Equipment Vandalism: Railway Cooperation Moves To Install Anti-theft Devices

Grace Omeche

The Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Railway Corporation, Engr. Fidet Edetanlaen Okhiria has said the corporation is working to install anti-theft to safeguard railway equipment and check vandalism.

Okhira commended security agencies, particularly the police for living up to expectations by arresting suspected vandals tampering with the cooperation’s installation as effort to improve on the country’s rail system by the President Muhammadu Buhari administration continues to be on the front burner.

Speaking during inspection of railway projects in Lagos, the Managing Director also noted that there will be no direct crossing as the Minister of Transportation, Rt. Hon. Rotimi Amaechi has instructed that the rails will either be underpass or overpass because it is Federal Government’s policy on rail and road crossing.

On vandalism of the rail equipment, he said: “We have had some respite in the last two weeks and the Police have also lived up to their responsibility by ensuring that they pick those that are involved and charge them to court immediately.

“Once they charge to court, it depends on the judge who sometimes detain them for two months or more and I think their colleagues are hearing it and that is why they have reduced.
“Also anti-theft device will also be installed and those are part of the additional works. When the work started, we had to talk to the contractors to realise that Nigeria is not China and our culture is not the same. We have to look inward to limit the vandalization and we jointly designed an idea to have anti-theft because they don’t have that in China but we had to localise that”, he said.