Kayode Opeifa, the Managing Director of the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC), says he takes full responsibility for the Abuja-Kaduna train derailment that occurred on Tuesday.
During an appearance on Channels Television’s ‘The Morning Brief’ on Wednesday, Opeifa, who revealed that there was no fatality, added that the ongoing investigation would not be swept under the carpet.
He added that the injuries sustained during the incident were serious.
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“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.
“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,” he said.
“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,” Opeifa added.
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