 Meanwhile, the Nigeria Railway Corporation NRC says it has temporarily suspended its services along the Abu-Jakaduna route due to unforeseen circumstances. The NRC made this announcement via its official Twitter page. It said further clear communication would be given in due course. We now have joining us, President General Nigeria Union of Railway Workers, Comrade Innocent Ajiji. Thanks for joining us on the news breath. Thank you very much. All right. So let's just get a clear picture. Can you bring us up to speed as we get all that happened yesterday and what is going on right now as we speak? Okay. Thank you very much for having me once more. Yesterday, the train left Abu-Jakaduna, I'm sorry, Regasa normally as usual. So around eight o'clock between Dutie and Rijana, the truck, the train was attacked by the bandits or whatever they called them and, you know, they exploded the truck and quite the portion that was exploded was quite lengthy. So that brought the train to a standstill because most of the wheels derailed. And so as a result of that, there's nothing else the driver could do by moving the train either forward or backward. So as information has it, we were told that information that immediately the train was stopped. The bandits started shooting at everyone, destroyed all the coaches and then forced the doors of the train open with their bullets, destroyed even the locomotive. So and then getting into the train, they now shot sporadically and then took some people and then some fled to the bush and then even some were injured and even there were recorded deaths in the incident. So and at about 2 a.m., our management now dispatch another train to go and rescue the already attacked train. And unfortunately on getting there, the portion of the truck that was exploded by the bandits was also, the train coming for assistance was also affected by that portion by derailing some of the wheels of the coaches and so there was no way they could be evacuated from that scene using our train that was taking them to Idu. So but we were told that the soldiers, the security men and the Red Cross Society helped in evacuating some of the passengers back to Kaduna while some that were, those that were injured were taken to the hospital. Alright, from what we hear according to the government, all trucked passengers have been evacuated. Can you tell us more concerning people who died or were kidnapped? Did you hear about any of your members involved in the incident of yesterday? God bless you. Thank you very much. Yeah. As I talk to you, we, I'm here to establish contact with the driver of the train but I was able to establish contact with the assistant driver of the train that is safe but the driver, for the driver of the train nobody knows his whereabouts and also the mechanical man in charge of electricity of the train was also nowhere to be found at this moment that we still talk. We don't know their whereabouts, whether they have taken safety to the bush or they were taken back to Kaduna or they were affected or kidnapped, were yet to be properly informed about it as all their lines are not going through. So nobody could really ascertain their whereabouts and their position now. But for those that were killed, I am not well informed yet about who and who and who was killed but I am very sure that some people were actually killed in the incident. Okay. Is there any official statement from the Nigeria Railway Corporation regarding what happened vis-a-vis the union members who were involved in that particular train ride? Any statement from them whatsoever? No, no official statement from Railway Management regarding the staff that were injured or affected by the incidents yet but there's an official statement from Railway Management saying that the train was under attack and as a result of that services are suspended until a further notice and so those are the official statements I came across but at the moment so but as I talk to you they are mobilizing to go our men are already on their way to go and start work at the accident site so which we are sure that within the few days they would be cleared. All right, in a sense just before we'll let you go now let's talk about proffering solutions but before that over time have you had any meeting or the Railway Corporation as regards security along the rail tracks because this is not the first time an incident like this has happened. I remember it happened sometime last year. What has been done since it happened last year and what is the conversation like since then? God bless you very well. You know we met, I personally made a press statement during the attack of last year that took place sometime I think on the 20th of July or August I can't have the accurate date here but I made an official statement. I made a lot of observations and of course we as a union advise the management and even the government that they should be for security on the station even on the track and even in all our stations and we also suggested that cameras be put on the train that can show the driver if those were at home. All right I would seem to have lost them, comrade them, innocent, innocent are you still there? All right innocent are you the president general of the railway workers union and he joined us to bring us up to speed as regards the Kaduna, Abuja, you know attack that happened yesterday. So innocent can you just wrap up your story as we round off from this session. Okay thank you, thank you for giving me the opportunity to be here. You see we keep making statements at each interval. It will interest you to know that I was interviewed by your television station last year during the three days warning strike we embarked upon and as a result of the strike we brought up these observations and we even made references to the fact that even the train workers are not insured but the passengers are insured but after which we were made to understand that actually the railway workers are on group life assurance and but I can stand to tell you that since that policy was introduced nobody from railway has benefited from that. Why? Because the process in getting that money by the next of kin is so cumbersome. Here is a process that if someone dies you have to go to court you have to come to railway management it has to be taken to the ministerial transport it has to be taken to gear and gear for approval before payment will be done to next of kin. So most next of kinks that have applied have not benefited why because of the cumbersome nature of the of the process so that was why we advise that every railway worker should be placed on personal life assurance so that when anything happens you can easily access the benefit of the disease between the next of kin and the insurance company but this group life assurance is what we are not in support of because the cumbersome of getting paid is too is too long so all these that are involved in this now where do we start from? All right thank you so much. You know Senator G president general Niger union of railway workers thank you so much for your time on the news brief. Please do subscribe to our youtube channel and don't forget to hit the notification button so you get notified about fresh news updates