Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, says the tedious process in procuring surveillance systems was why the federal government was unable to prevent the attack by bandits on the Kaduna-Abuja rail track.
The minister made this assertion in a post on his Facebook page on Tuesday, adding that he was devastated by the recurring attacks on trains by bandits.
“I am devastated and I honestly don’t know what to tell Nigerians anymore; the process of procuring the integrated security surveillance and monitoring solution has been tedious,” Mr Amaechi said.
Had “the processes of procuring security surveillance for the train were shortened, we would have saved lives,” the minister added.
Mr Amaechi’s comment comes 24 hours after the bandits bombed the train that was on its way to Abuja from Kaduna.
As at Tuesday, the Kaduna government said eight people were killed and 26 injured in the Monday train attack.
TheDispatch had reported how armed bandits ambushed another passenger train along the beleaguered Abuja-Kaduna track.
The incident occurred near Gidan Station as the train was returning to Abuja from Kaduna.