Concerns as NRC records seven cases of vandalisation in two years

• Says reconstruction of Port Harcourt to Kano railway to begin month end

The Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) has recorded about seven cases of railway vandalisation in the last two years spanning 2020 till date.

Recall that the month of May 2021 was a nightmare for the NRC, as no fewer than five instances of the vandalisation of its rail furniture were reported.

On May 8, 2021, three people were arrested in Kaduna State in connection with the Kaduna – Kano line vandalism.

On May 14, five were caught violating the Warri -Itakpe line. Also, another five were nabbed dismantling the rail line at Dalle village in Jema’a Local Government Area of Kaduna State; while yet another incident was reported in Enugu at about the same time.

Also, on February 2, 2022, NRC said acts of vandalism, track theft and erosion were frustrating its operations in the South-East.

While decrying the continued vandalisation of the railway lines in the region, it stressed that the development had hindered rail operation in the eastern corridor.

Eastern District Manager, NRC, Olusoji Osidipe, who disclosed this, said all efforts to ensure that trains start operating in the East have not been yielding the desired result because of the challenges.

Recall that suspected vandals removed some clips from the Lagos-Ibadan rail tracks last Saturday, forcing the early morning train heading to Lagos from Ibadan to stop at Papalanto while the one heading to Ibadan from Lagos was also forced into an emergency stop.

Confirming the development, Regional District Manager in charge of Lagos, Jerry Oche explained that after the trains were forced to stop, the removed clips were replaced and the trains continued on their journey afterwards.

However, Managing Director, NRC, Fidet Okhiria has condemned the persistent vandalisation of rail tracks across the country.

Okhiria, who said the removal of the rail tracks were hitherto restricted to the narrow gauge, but added that the hoodlums have become so daring that they have started attacking the standard gauge, removing the clips with the intention to remove the tracks.

He disclosed the development during a quarterly media briefing in Lagos.

He said: “We called this press conference to call attention to the increasing rate of vandalisation of some of our lines by hoodlums across the country. It is becoming alarming and very serious. It is our desire to reiterate that we need to maintain what we have and keep it working rather than destroy it and go back to where we were before.”

The NRC boss noted that sabotaging the rail and the fixed infrastructure is not in the best interest of Nigeria.

He said it would be better to keep the nation’s infrastructure working so that those using it now would leave it behind for generations to come to appreciate what today’s citizens collectively suffered for.

Okhiria said: “The rate of vandalisation of our infrastructure is becoming alarming and very serious. I don’t want to mention particular regions but people are sabotaging the tracks so badly. We have had issues between Papalanto and Abeokuta. We have had issues close to Ajaokuta, of people trying to vandalise the tracks and even the coaches.”

However, he said work on the reconstruction of Port Harcourt to Kano railway is expected to start before the end of the month. In addition, funds are being sourced for the standard gauge rail line from Port Harcourt to Maiduguri, and the same thing from Calabar to Lagos.

He said that the corporation is meeting with contractor, CRCC International, on the Public-Private sectors Partnership (PPP) arrangements on the project between Itakpe to Abuja. “We’re meeting with them so that we can see how soon we can mobilise to site,” Okhiria said.

He pointed out that the reconstruction of the narrow gauge will go to Owerri from where it will be extended to Abakaliki from Enugu. “The narrow gauge will also link the Warri deep sea and link the rail train complex in Port Harcourt,” the NRC leader highlighted.

According to him, from the North-East, the project will proceed to Damaturu where the standard gauge will link to respective places.

He said that Calabar-Lagos work is taking off from Calabar, Uyo, Bayelsa, Warri to Benin. “And from Benin, we come back to Agbor, Agbor to Asaba and Asaba to Onitsha, Onitsha to Enugu to Abakaliki, then from Benin straight to Lagos,” Okhiria specified.

He stated that somewhere from Ore, work will proceed to Ondo, adding that Ibadan to Kano will also branch to Osogbo and to Ekiti. “So that is the plan on ground, and we are hoping Kano-Kaduna will be linked before the end of this year,” the railway chief declared.

He said that the loan or the counterpart funding has not been received.

On how to achieve smooth and uninterrupted operations, he stressed that without more rolling stocks the service will not be that smooth.

The NRC Managing Director said: “You have to have redundancy in our spare parts and rolling stocks so that we will have time to draw some coaches for proper maintenance – what is called periodic overhaul – so that when you withdraw one, there will be one available that will be redeployed and will be seamless and people not notice.”

He explained that the contract for both the narrow-gauge rolling stocks and standard gauge rolling stocks have been awarded. These include locomotives for standard gauge and locomotives for narrow gauge, coaches for standard gauge and coaches for narrow gauge, wagons for standard gauge and wagons for narrow gauge.