The residents of Maiduguri have protested against the controversial evacuation of railway coaches out of the state.
The Nigerian Tribune reported that there was drama when trucks stormed the railway station over the weekend and loaded quite a number of coaches.
The police authority arrested six people and deflated the tyres of the trucks. Meanwhile, the Nigeria Railway Corporation and NLC authorities in Abuja issued a statement clarifying that the coaches were to be evacuated to Jos, Plateau State, for official overhauling.
In response, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) admitted that it received an official communication regarding the evacuation of the coaches.
However, the police insisted that they had not been properly communicated about the matter, hence the arrest and detention of the culprits.
Addressing the protesters at the railway terminus in Maiduguri on Sunday, Governor Babagana Zulum called for calmness.
He assured the residents that the state government would take decisive action to halt the evacuation of railway facilities in the future.
Zulum, represented by his deputy, Umar Usman Kadafur, stated that his government would work assiduously to revive the railway services for effective transportation and development.
“We are here to identify with your concerns as law-abiding citizens. We want to assure you that the Borno State Government will not allow any of the railway facilities to move even an inch out of Maiduguri Station.
“Borno is the only state in the federation that borders three different countries: Niger, Chad, and Cameroon.
Therefore, railway services are key to enhancing trans-Saharan trade. Apart from halting the evacuation of these coaches, the Borno State Government will ensure that other coaches that were evacuated in one way or another are returned to Maiduguri.”
Earlier in their speech, the village head of Goidamgari/Railway general area, Lawan Bukar Gaje, and the youth leader, Mallam Abubakar, expressed displeasure over the incident.
They stressed that Borno State, which has suffered devastation due to over a decade of the Boko Haram crisis, needs government intervention in reconstruction, rehabilitation, and resettlement, including the revamping of the railway services—not the evacuation of its facilities.
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