The Nigerian Railway Corportation has said that the National Identity Number will now become compulsory for passenger profiling when boarding the Abuja-Kaduna Train Service.
The Managing Director of the Corporation, Fidet Okhiria made this known during an interview on Arise TV on Thursday.
The NIN, which is no longer optional according to the NRC boss is part of the new security measures adopted by the government.
The announcement was made a week after the Minister of Transport announced the resumption of train service along the Abuja-Kaduna route after it was suspended in March this year.
He said, “Now we are going to include profiling of passengers on the train. It is not like that in the developed world. You can go to the station and buy your ticket nobody will ask for your passport, but being in the situation we have found ourselves in, we need to profile passengers.
We are collaborating with NIMC and ensuring that not only when you come to board the train, but your actual self will also show on the monitor and you will see it. If you are not the one, the gates will not open for you.
We have also introduced a ticket dispensing machine, there are other facilities we have introduced to ensure that proper profiling is done.”
He said the system will ask for NIN to ensure the person buying the ticket is buying for the person that is actually traveling.
For visitors, the NRC boss said someone with NIN must be able to identify the person.
He said that the number of Police, Civil Defense, and Military personnel would also be increased.
Okhiria said, “We are working with the security system of the country including the Military, the Police and Civil defense. Also, we are introducing technology.
We are now in a position to at least know the real-time location of our train and at the same time have the visuals of the train and the immediate surrounding.
The IG has promised that more security men, professional ones, and counter-terrorism police will be deployed. As I speak, an Area Command has been set up for the Abuja- Kaduna.”
