Nigeria Considers Private Security to Protect Railway Lines
- Government expects surveillance contract to cost $21 million
- China-funded railway line shut after terrorist attack in March
Workers lay slab at the new standard gauge railway line under construction from Iju in Lagos to Abeokuta, Ogun State in southwest Nigeria, on February 7, 2019.
Photographer: Pius Utomi Ekpei/AFP/Getty ImagesThis article is for subscribers only.
Nigeria is considering hiring private security operators to protect railway lines, including a central route from the capital that has been attacked by criminal gangs and terrorists at least twice this year.
The cash-strapped government is seeking public-private partnership options after estimating that installing security equipment on the track that links the capital, Abuja, to Kaduna in the north could cost as much as 9 billion naira ($21 million), Transportation Minister Muazu Sambo said on Wednesday.