The Minister of Transportation ,Chibuike Amaechi says henceforth anyone traveling by Rail would be required to wear a face mask in addition to carrying a hand sanitizer with at least 79% alcohol content
Amaechi made this known on Monday during the briefing of the Presidential Task Force on Covid-19 in Abuja.
He warned that any passenger who failed to wear face masks would be asked to leave the train
The Minister who discosed that Covid-19 is real said that it was pressure from those who wanted to participate in spiritual activities that made him to agree to reopening the Railways for the Abuja/Kaduna route.which will commence on Wednesday July 29th,2020.
He said travellers would strictly adhere to the Covid-19 protocols of spacing and wearing of face masks as anything short of that would require the use of force on the commuter to disembark from the train
“We don’t want to see how handsome you are or how beautiful you are please wear for me a face mask.not a mouth mask, Nigerians wear mouth mask.if you do that, the train will stop and you will come down.There is no Christian,there is no Muslim in death.When you die,you go and face your God.Some of us are not ready to face our creator so don’t take us down there.. So the moment you bring down your mask, the police would ask you to wear back your mask, for respect if you refuse,we would ask the driver to stop.”
Amaechi noted that the locally made masks are i good although most of them only cover the mouth and urged all those wishing to travel by rail to wear appropriate masks even if they are locally made,
He said face shields would only be allowed if they are worn along with facemasks.
” You will not enter the station if you do not have a face mask, you will not enter the station if you do not have a hand sanitizer,we must see the hand sanitizer,we must make sure it is not below 79% alcohol.”
The Minister said that the number of passengers because of physical distancing and coaches that coveyed 88 passengers will now be made to carry not more than 50 Passengers adding that that was the reason for the increase in transport fares.
According to the Minister,fare for Economy class which was previously N1500, has now gone up to N3000 while Business Class and First class are N5000 and N6000 respectively..
He said the Ministry has deployed enough security operatives for the coaches to ensure security of lives and property as well as enforcement of Covid-19 guidelines.
