.We’re extending rail mass transit across Nigeria, says NRC

Borno State Governor, Babagana Zulum, has supported the protesting residents over the evacuation of Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) coaches from Maiduguri to Jos railway station in Plateau State.

According to him, most of the railway coaches delivered to Maiduguri were recently evacuated and returned to Jos railway station.

Addressing the residents, yesterday, in the Goidamgari and Railway Terminus communities, Maiduguri, the governor, represented by his deputy, Umar Kadafur, disclosed: “There were no explanations to the evacuation of most of the railway coaches from neither the Federal Government nor NRC”.

He noted that the police arrested six suspects for deflating the tyres of trucks that delivered the coaches to the Maiduguri railway station.

The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) also confirmed the evacuation of railway coaches to Jos for overhaul.

The police maintained that they were not informed of the evacuation, adding: “This led to the arrest and detention of the suspects deflating the tyres of trucks that brought the coaches to the Maiduguri railway station.”

NRC, however, claimed that the evacuated coaches were for overhaul, before deployment.

Kadafur, therefore, assured them that the state government would not allow any of the NRC rail facilities, including the coaches, to be taken out of Maiduguri.

Responding, the Village Head of Goidamgari and Railway Terminus communities, Bukar Gaje, and the Youth leader, Mallam Abubakar, expressed displeasure over the evacuation of coaches from their communities.

Meanwhile, NRC has concluded plans to extend rail mass transit to all parts of the country.

Responding to the reported attempt to steal NRC coaches from Maiduguri, the managing Director, NRC, Fidelis Okhria, described the story as erroneous.
He explained that the coaches were officially being moved to NRC Running Shed in Jos.

The statement reads: “The attention of NRC has been drawn to the news trending on numerous social media platforms purported to have emanated from Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), in which it was reported that an attempt was made to steal NRC coaches from Maiduguri.

“NRC management wishes to clarify this erroneous reportage by stating that the said coaches are officially being moved to NRC Running Shed, Jos, to be overhauled and put back to operation. NRC is trying to extend Rail Mass Transit all over the country.”