Rampant theft and vandalism have again hit Nigeria’s infrastructure sector as a disturbing video has surfaced showing large sections of the Lagos-Ibadan railway line vandalised and critical components stolen by suspected thieves.
In a video posted on TikTok by a user with the handle @ibnationadelaja, the netizen is seen walking along the railway tracks while recording the extensive damage.
The footage reveals that many of the bolts and fasteners that connect the rail metals, essential components that ensure train stability, have been systematically stolen.
In the video, the visibly frustrated narrator laments the consequences of the vandalism:
“See how the thieves vandalised the railway. They have stolen all the bolts. And if the train is coming now, it may derail because of this. Why can’t we make Nigeria better?”
He continues with a pointed rebuke of citizens who sabotage national development projects while complaining about government inefficiency:
“If you steal all these bolts and the train coming derails, will the government be willing to rebuild a mega project like this one again? And it is the same citizens that always complain of bad government — now see what we are doing. All those items used to join the metal of the rails, all of them have been stolen.”
The Lagos-Ibadan railway, commissioned in 2021 under the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari, was celebrated as a major milestone in Nigeria’s modern transport infrastructure drive.
Constructed by the China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC), the 157-kilometre double-track line cost over $1.5 billion and was expected to ease travel between Lagos and southwestern states.
However, less than four years later, the project is now facing serious threats from criminal elements who sabotage it for petty profit, risking hundreds of lives and undermining national progress.
This is not the first time key transport infrastructure in Nigeria has been vandalised.
There have been reports of how facilities at the stadium station of the Abuja light rail system were stolen by vandals, leaving the station that was commissioned by President Muhammadu Buhari in 2018 as a caricature.
A visit to the light rail station in 2022 revealed that the industrial and electrical cables as well as air conditioners equipment were carted away.
The hoodlums also removed the cables along the rail track as well as heavy nuts used to tie the track.
In a broader sense, the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) late 2023 claimed that it lost over 150,000 rail clips due to constant vandalism along railway tracks across the country in two years.
The Corporation stated that between 2022 and 2023 over 50,000 clips each had been vandalised between Lagos – Ibadan, Warri – Itakpe and Abuja-Kaduna standard gauge tracks
He added that the corporation had been actively engaging in constant sensitisation exercises with communities where vandalism had occurred to make them understand the serious implications of such acts on the growth of rail networking in the country.
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