The national assembly is preparing a bill that will recommend death penalty for vandals of national assets across the country.
This was revealed by Senator Adamu Aliero, a former minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and a current senator from Kebbi State.
Speaking to journalists on the issue of vandalism and what the national assembly is doing to curtail it, the former Kebbi State governor said the members of the national assembly were concerned about the continued vandalisation of national assets such as power installations, daily tracks, airport facilities among others and are looking at a bill that will stipulate death penalty for any type of vandalism.
According to him, “on the issue of vandalization. You see, it is very unfortunate that it is not only the rail line that has been vandalized. As you rightly know, power installations, airport installations, oil and gas installations, and bridges have been vandalized.
“The national assembly is thinking of coming up with a very strong legislation that will make it criminal. If possible, any vendor caught sabotaging public infrastructure, the punishment should attract the death penalty. Probably if that happens, it will go a long way in reducing vandalization drastically.”
Also speaking to journalists on issue of vandalisation of national assets, a member of House of Representatives, Honorable Blessing Onuh called for installation of anti-theft mechanism to stop people from vandalising assets.
It would be noted that recently, the Nigeria Police Force paraded some vandals with truck load of rail way tracks, stolen from the narrow gauge line across the country.
Also, the minister of transportation, Alkali S’aid attributed recent train derailments to activities of vandals, who have been temparing with the rail lines.
Reacting to the activities of vandals, he said, “the ministry and, of course, the Nigerian Railway Corporation are working hard to ensure that these vandals do not destroy our properties. We are deploying so many major surveillance in conjunction with the security agencies to ensure that these properties are not allowed to be vandalized.”
