Olawale Ajimotokan in Abuja
The Secretary, FCT Transportation Secretariat, Abdullahi Adamu Candido, has attributed the vandalism of some support infrastructure at Abuja Light Rail Mass Transit to the decision of China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC) to withdraw the armed soldiers guiding the facilities.
Candido made the admission yesterday while inspecting facilities at the Abuja Light Rail Mass Transit in the nation’s capital.
“To some extent, I have to put the blame on CCECC for not doing the needful from the word go, by withdrawing the armed soldiers who were ensuring the security of this place.
“Withdrawing them brought us to this point. You can’t withdraw armed soldiers and replace them with unarmed personnel and expect to have the same result, because the vandals can take advantage of this and that was exactly what they did,” Candido said.
He decried the magnitude of damage inflicted by the vandals as an act that has hampered the effort to develop infrastructure.
“But fortunately, we have an administrator in FCT Minister, Malam Muhammad Musa Bello, who is committed to leaving a legacy and that is why we are here -to take a look at it so that we will know how to tackle it within a space of seven months.”.
Some of the vandalized facilities include rail tracks, signalling and communication equipment made up of sensitive cables and fittings, generating sets and air-conditioning systems, among several others.
When asked to estimate the cost of repairs of the cannibalized railway infrastructure, Candido declined on the grounds that inspection and verification were still ongoing
