By Disun Amosun
The House of Representatives has expressed worry over incessant vandalization of Railway properties and demanded from the Nigeria Railway Corporation, NRC comprehensive explanations and evidences on the alleged vandalization of rail tracks and other Corporation’s assets across the country.
The House at a probe conducted by its Committee on Land Transport also fingered some NRC staff as being involved in the scam to fester their pockets.
The Committee Chairman, Rep. Blessing Onuh described the development as nefarious and unacceptable, and must be stopped in order to forestall rail accidents which she noted must be avoided at all costs.
According to the Committee Chairman, the investigation was prompted by noticeable incidents observed during the movement of coaches from Maiduguri to Jos which sparked speculations about alleged diversion and stealing of NRC’s assets across the country.
She stated that Nigerians were worried about the state of assets of the NRC, especially as regards the safety of the tracks amidst incidences of vandalisation of the tracks, sleepers and other gadgets which were intercepted in many parts of the country.
The Managing Director of NRC, Mr. Fyneboss Okhiria in his response explained that what was taken as vandalization and theft were in fact obsolete and rundown equipment highlight for replacement.
The Committee was however not satisfied with the NRC boss explanations, describing them as unreasonable and insisted that there were shady deals involved in the whole setup.
The Committee thereafter adjourned to enable the Corporation present it with all relevant documents on the state of its assets across the country.
