Police arrest notorious rail vandal in Kafanchan, says Opeifa

The Managing Director of the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC), Dr Kayode Opeifa, has announced the arrest of a notorious vandal, simply called Mr Lucky, who was caught cutting a rail bridge along the Kaduna/Kafanchan axis.

According to him, Lucky, who had been under close watch after intelligence reports confirmed him as being behind the vandalisation of many rail irons on the axis, was caught in the act by the police.

Opeifa, who disclosed this on Thursday, said the police are on the trail of Lucky’s collaborators still at large.

The Managing Director, in a statement signed by the Deputy Director, Public Relations, NRC, Yakub Mahmood, said the worrisome spate of vandalisation of iron materials from rail tracks is 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 added that anyone caught would be prosecuted.

He reiterated that rail materials are not scraps, and people should be careful when paying money or buying scraps from anyone, as only the Managing Director and the Corporation’s management can authorize disposal if need be, in accordance with the Corporation’s Act.

He, therefore, appealed to members of the public to raise the alarm whenever they observe the movement of rail materials.

Recently, Opeifa 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.

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Citing even recent instances, Opeifa said: “A policeman was caught with track materials in Minna, the capital of Niger State, while in Bauchi and Port Harcourt, some persons were caught cutting the rail tracks.

“Another trailer load of track materials was arrested at Obeagu in Ebonyi State.

“The vehicles used in the operation, both in 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,” Opeifa said.

He also warned all smelting foundries colluding with these saboteurs by buying off the iron materials stolen from the railway to desist, as their acts are injurious to the economy.

“We would not stop warning all those in the 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 actions can lead to train derailments, which may put train passengers’ lives in danger,” Opeifa added.

He said the corporation would continue to leverage the success of the reactivated freight movement to keep all its lines busy, as efforts are underway to reopen abandoned routes, especially on the two narrow gauge lines, for massive movements of cargo across the country.

He assured that the reactivation of century-old lines like the Kano-Nguru line in Yobe and Jigawa States, and the Idogo line in Ogun State, as well as the 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.

Opeifa declared that the vandals have no reason to cannibalize the nation’s rail assets across the country, adding that with the projections to get these lines moving, vandalism of the train assets would be contained.

Already, he said, the corporation has commenced the 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 distances, which had hitherto 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.