The Nigerian Railway Corporation‘s managing director, Dr. Kayode Opeifa, has expressed alarm over the growing number of incidents of iron materials being vandalised from rail tracks, stating that the threat is grave.
Dr. Opeifa stated this while disclosing the arrest of a notorious vandal, simply c0alled Mr Lucky, caught cutting a rail bridge along the Kaduna/Kafanchan axis.
According to him, Lucky, who has been under close watch after intelligence reports confirmed him as being behind the vandalisation of many of the rail irons on the axis was caught in the act by the police.
He said the Police were on the trail of Lucky’s collaborators at large, saying “The worrisome spate of vandalisation of iron materials from rail tracks are becoming very rampant across the country,” and reiterated his earlier call on the vandals’ collaborators, especially companies smelting the stolen irons, to stay clear of railway properties. He warned that anyone caught will be prosecuted.
The Managing Director insisted that “Rail materials are not scraps, and people should be careful paying money or buying the scraps from anyone as only the Managing Director and the Corporation’s management can authorise the disposal if need be, in accordance with the Corporation’s Act.”
Opeifa had earlier said the Police of the Railway Command swooped on a house in Kafanchan, where irons and sleepers belonging to the Nigerian Railway Corporation are stored.
Citing even latest instances, Opeifa said, “a policeman was caught with track materials in Minna, the capital of Niger State, while in Bauchi and in Port Harcourt, some persons were caught cutting the rail tracks.
“Another trailer load of track materials were arrested at Obeagu in Ebonyi State.
“The vehicles used in the operation, both at the Bauchi and Port Harcourt incidents, are with the police as exhibits.”
He disclosed that both the Police Commissioner of the Railway Command and the Commandant of the Nigeria Safety and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), of the Railway Command, have been directed to speedily arraign and prosecute the suspects and report back to the management on the various vandalisation cases being prosecuted by them.
“Let me warn in the stiffest language that all these economic saboteurs stealing our rail materials across the country will be prosecuted by the Nigerian Police. They will face the wrath of the law. We would not stop warning all those in iron smelting business to stop patronizing the vandals. Any rail track stolen and any iron sleepers removed, is injurious to the average Nigerian because such can lead to train derailments which may put train passengers’ lives in danger,” Opeifa noted.
He said the corporation would continue to leverage the success of the reactivated freight movement to keep all its lines busy as efforts are on to reopen abandoned routes especially on the two narrow gauge lines for massive movements of cargoes across the country.
He assured that the reactivation of century old lines like the Kano- Nguru, in Yobe and Jigawa States, and Idogo line in Ogun State, the Zaria-Kaura Namoda line in Katsina and Zamfara States, are already receiving priority attention and would be reactivated soon.
He said in a matter of months, the corporation would achieve seamless cargo movement on its narrow gauge beyond Ibadan, to Ilorin, even to Minna, and to Kano from Lagos.
