Kayode Opeifa, the Managing Director of the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC), declared that he is accepting full accountability for the derailment of the Abuja-Kaduna train, which occurred along the Kaduna corridor on Tuesday.
Gatekeepers News reports that the derailment happened shortly after the train departed from Abuja around 11 am, heading towards Kaduna.
During an appearance on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief on Wednesday, Opeifa emphasised that the investigation into the incident would be thorough and transparent, ensuring that it would not be overlooked.
“Let me say, beyond apologising to Nigeria, I want to say as the managing director and chief executive, I take full responsibility. And in the case of safety, there is no indifference.
“Once it happens, the chief executive must take responsibility. In this case, I am taking responsibility,” said Opeifa.
The MD said the injuries of four of the Abuja-Kaduna train passengers were serious.
Opeifa stated, “Coming to the fatality and the casualties, there was no fatality. We thank God. That was a near miss because for this kind of accident or incident, you see some level of fatality, but we thank God for this.
“And for those who were injured, four are serious, and another two or so were discharged immediately, and we will follow up on those that might still be in the hospital.
“I don’t know as of this moment, we’ll follow up. So we’ll also follow up with the remaining 618 people on the train because of the post-traumatic experience. We have the full contacts and we’ll do that.”
Opeifa acknowledged that such an incident should not have transpired and reaffirmed the NRC’s commitment to taking measures to prevent future occurrences.
“I want to assure Nigerians that an incident like this is not expected, is not prayed for, should not be happening, but where it does, it is to bring out the best in us.
“And I assure Nigerians that just as we are doing currently on the Warri-Itakpe, which he (the analyst) also mentioned, we shut down the Warri-Itakpe (route) three weeks ago.
“I ordered the shutdown for safety reasons, and if you see the level of work the men have been doing on the track, cutting it off and replacing it is to make sure things like this don’t happen,” he added.
