How Chinese Buys Vandalize Rail Tracks From Nigeria Youths, Reproduce And Sell To Nigeria Authority

The Nigerian Police has arrested two Chinese who were accomplices in the crippling of the Nigeria railway.

According to Channels Television, the Youths of the Mada Station community in Nasarawa State in February began to loosen and cut railway tracks that connect the community to another part of the country.

The Mada station tracks, which were about 130km away from Abuja, the Nigeria capital, had not been in use for about five years, but the vandals still find the infrastructure useful.

By June this year, most of the six tracks of the route had laid bare, except for its ballast.

Only those portions protected by the wheels of an abandoned coach were left untouched.

The culprits also dug and vandalized the water pipes of the culverts under the tracks.

“We were not happy about it,” a resident of the community Mikailu Abdullahi, told Channels Television. “We did our best to stop them, but we couldn’t.”

Some community members reported the vandalization to the police and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), but they were told there weren’t enough arms to enforce arrests, according to a staff of the Nigeria Railway Corporation in Mada station who pleaded anonymity.

“The youths came in numbers at night to vandalize the tracks,” the staff said. “In one of the incidents, six armed men came here to arrest a trailer loaded with railway materials. But they couldn’t make the arrest because the youths refused.”

Another railway staff suggested that the youths were motivated by a sense of entitlement.

“The youths are claiming that the tracks are their father’s and they have to chop (eat),” he said. “They are also claiming they are indigenes of the area, so nobody can stop them to do whatever they want to do.

“We did our best (to stop them). When we reported to the nearest police station and civil defense, they said there are no arms and mobility. So this is how the vandalism continued.”

The Police stepped in May and in June, arrested 35 of the vandals, including two Chinese Nationals, local politicians, police and NSCDC officials, and a railway official.

The police disclosed that the youths were in cohorts with several top politicians, corrupt police officers, and NSCDC staff, and the Chinese nationals.

The tracks and sleepers are piled and arranged in lorries after welders have performed the loosening and cutting, then they are ferried to a steel company run by a Chinese suspect, Marra Thai.

Thai is said to be the main collector of the vandalized tracks.

The Nasarawa State Commissioner of Police, Bola Longe, said that the tracks are compressed and dissolved, “and then, later on, they will mass-produce new ones and use it for us.”

“We don’t know whether it is legal or not,” Thai, whose steel company is based in Abuja, said when asked why he received vandalized tracks. “And we asked somebody to confirm it, and they said there was no problem. That’s why we collected it.”

However, the police disclosed that Thai’s lawyer offered a bribe of N600,000 when the police caught up with his client.

The bribe was rejected by Anietie Eyoh, who is the head of the anti-vandalism template created by the Police. One lorry driver who was also implicated in the vandalism operation also offered Officer Eyoh a bribe of N150,000.

The monies were displayed when the suspects were paraded on Monday.

“We have resolved, with unbending determination, that whosoever comes into our radar, no matter who, will be seen, and the person will be arrested and treated in accordance with the provision of the law,” Longe, the police boss, said.

Rail track vandalism has been a recurring activity in Nigeria. While the present administration prioritized the revitalization of the railway network in the country, the vandals appeared to have upped their activities.

This month, the police said it has cracked down on a criminal syndicate engaged in vandalizing rail tracks across the North-West and North-Central.

The operation was uncovered after the police raided a warehouse in Gboko, Benue state.

Inside the warehouse, the police discovered different vandalized rail equipment, stolen rail installation racks, weld-shear, rail puller, other rail accessories, and consumables.

But many of the syndicate members are still at large.

The Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed, has described such vandalization as acts of terrorism.

“Removal of rail tracks can cause train derailment, with deadly consequences,” he said at a town hall meeting recently.

While promising to prosecute anyone suspected of vandalizing public property, the Minister has also pleaded with Nigerians to take ownership of the assets, as they “must be protected for the benefit of all.”