By Fidelis Ugbomeh
The menace of vandalizing railway sleepers and abandoned components littering workshops and premises of Nigerian Railway Corporation, (NRC) has remained a source of concern to observers of trends in the rail sector.
It is even more worrisome that some foundries are in the business of purchasing and smelting stolen irons from train stations and workshops along the narrow gauge railway corridor.
Only recently, Nigerian Railway Police Command, in Kachia Local government of Kaduna State, arrested two vandals with 70 iron sleepers and other iron materials stolen from the railway tracks stored in two apartments.
Similarly, the management in a statement issued by deputy director, public relations of the corporation, Yakub Mahmood announced arrest of a notorious vandal, referred to as Mr Lucky, for cutting a rail bridge along the Kaduna/Kafanchan railway corridor.
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.
Reacting to these developments, managing director of NRC, Dr. Kayode Opeifa expressed concern about the 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, adding that anyone caught would be prosecuted.
He stated further 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
According to him, all these economic saboteurs stealing our rail materials across the country, will be prosecuted by the Nigerian Police.
He also warned all smelting foundries colluding with these saboteurs by buying off the iron materials stolen from railway to desist as their acts is injurious to the economy.
“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 said.
He disclosed that both the Police Commissioner, Nigerian Railway Command and the Commandant of 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.
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.
Opeifa declared that the vandals have no reason to cannibalize the nation’s rail asset across the country adding that with the projections to get these lines moving, vandalism of the train assets would be contained.
While attributing some activities of the vandals to idleness of the narrow gauge lines for some time now he assured that the reactivation of century old lines like the Kano-Nguru, in Yobe and Jigawa States, and Idogo line in Ogun state, Zaria-Kaura Namoda line in Katsina and Zamfara states, are already receiving priority attention and would be reactivated soon.
He said that 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.
He disclosed that aready the corporation has commenced movement of bulk goods including cement, gypsum, and soda ash, among others, from the ports in partnership with some terminal operators, logistics companies and manufacturing concerns.
“We are happy that we are gradually taking back our space as the centre of bulk or large cargo movement over long distance which hitherto had been taken over by other modes especially the road mode.
“We have not abandoned our legacy tracks, better known as the narrow gauges, as cargo movements would resume on all our old narrow gauges,” Opeifa added.
Regarding traders who have converted the train tracks to markets he pointed out that the tracks should be cleared of all human activities to prevent avoidable accidents.