The Federal Government says it may consider capital punishment for railway track vandals in Nigeria.
The Minister of Transportation,Mr.Rotimi Amaechi, who said this during a town hall meeting on “Protecting Public Infrastructure”,disclosed that rail track vandalism is a capital offence and its consequences should be treated as such.
He said:”I am not quantifying the material cost; what I am quantifying is the lives that will be lost.Imagine that a driver of a rail track is driving and suddenly bumps into a track that has been severed; what happens? It will derail.
“Each coach in Nigeria carries about 85 passengers, sometimes we carry 14 coaches, sometimes 20.So imagine you are carrying a train of 14 or 20 coaches with 85 passengers in each coach.If it derails, can you quantify how many passengers would have died in the course of one man thinking he is making money.So, it is not about the cost but the lives that would have been lost because of a few interest.
He suggested that if armed robbery, whether successful or not attracts life imprisonment, rail track vanderlism should not be any less.
According to him, rail track vanderlism is being done in collaboration with foreign partners.
“In Jos, they arrested a Chinese company that bought those tracks from them, went to court and court found them guilty and fined them N200,000.So, there must be consequences as N200,000 is not enough.”
