Port Harcourt-Abia train passengers to encounter difficulties as hoodlums vandalise, steal rail tracks 

Traders and passengers travelling from Port Harcourt, Rivers State to Aba, Abia State by train may experience difficulties as suspected hoodlums have stolen and destroyed some railway facilities around the Elelenwo axis of Obio/Akpor Local Government Area of Rivers State.

There have been complaints of theft of rail tracks and other facilities at the rail lines recently.

The Vice Chairman of Nigeria Railway Workers, Port Harcourt branch, Chika Njoku, while speaking to newsmen in Port Harcourt on the latest incident said Sunday’s destruction of that railway section was worrisome.

While noting that the latest incident was the fourth in recent times, he lamented that whenever the stolen and destroyed facilities were replaced, the miscreants would strike.

He said, “They vandalised the rail again which we have been trying to make sure that the communities and the chiefs should help us. I don’t know what is actually happening.

“Fix it today, tomorrow they will be vandalised. We are not finding it funny at all. That Elelenwo axis, nobody knows who they are and we can’t really tell what is happening.

“Sometimes one begins to wonder if it is really the hoodlums. Sometimes, I even suspect transporters, but I don’t really know. This is not the first time, not the second, and not the third.”

He appealed to the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps and other security operatives to assist in identifying the perpetrators and bringing them to book.