Infrastructure terrorism: How scavengers wreak havoc on public facilities

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• Residents call for urgent intervention
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By Olasunkanmi Akoni

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It happened within 90 seconds and six sets of gutter guards were gone. The gutter guards covered the drainage directly in front of the twin-duplex and also served as a bridge to aid entrance. Without the CCTV, the property owners would have been left wondering how it happened.

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The recording time was 2:25 a.m. Two scavengers were on the prowl. They surveyed the area briefly and swung into action. No one is sure whether they had conducted reconnaissance earlier in the day. Moreover, the swiftness and dexterity with which they removed the guards and loaded them into their carts was stunning. It happened in an upscale estate in the Alimosho area of Lagos State. Nnamdi Alozie, one of the occupants, set out for his office around 5:30 that morning, only to ram his Hyundai Sonata straight into the gutter.

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“I couldn’t have imagined that someone would remove the gutter guards in front of a house. The gate engine slides the gate to a corner so I didn’t observe that the guards were gone. It was when we checked the CCTV that we saw the two scavengers,” Alozie lamented. He said he spent over half a million naira to repair his car. That was a private property. This happened in January, 2024.

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Present day infrastructure terrorism

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Last weekend, a cocktail of emotions ran through the spines of Lagosians (and indeed Nigerians) as they saw video clips of the vandalisation of the Alakija-Festac link bridge in Lagos. Residents first raised the alarm about scavengers removing iron reinforcements from the structure’s pillars, fearing imminent collapse and a possible threat to lives and property.

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Vandalism at its vilest

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To properly appreciate the matter, visualize this: The main pillars carrying the entire weight of the link-bridge, made of concrete reinforced with iron rods, were the objects of the attack. Imagine using metal tools to scrape the cement covering, thereby exposing the iron rods. Once the scavengers locate the rods in the concrete pillars, they cut them off. That is just one aspect.

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Another aspect is digging out the laterite piling that forms the ascending part of the bridge. The scavengers dug into the laterite piling to create a hollow space under the bridge as a place of abode with a tarpaulin covering for doors. To dig out the laterite and sand piling, they scraped off the concrete plaster. The asinine thinking that could effectuate such criminal sabotage of public infrastructure is better left to the imagination.

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Scavengers also have stripped the sides of the bridge concrete exposing the iron rods.

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Hard questions

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Why would anyone do that to an infrastructure that serves all – including the criminal scavengers? Is it about ignorance of the consequences of such an act? Is it about the quest to make a living? Or is it just sheer wickedness?

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The video that saved the day

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Meanwhile, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, in a swift response, inspected the site for an on-the-spot assessment of damage and necessary immediate intervention, declaring a manhunt for criminal suspects of public infrastructure vandalism in the State.

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The viral video which circulated on social media at the weekend showed a resident drawing the attention of authorities to the damaged bridge, accusing scavengers of breaking the concrete on the bridge pillars and extracting the iron rods inside, thereby compromising its structural integrity and ultimately the safety of the motoring public and all citizens.

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“This is the bridge that was constructed all the way from Alakija to link inside Festac. These scavengers have started removing iron from the pillars that support the bridge. They break the concrete and started removing the iron. See how they have dug into the reinforcement of the bridge. It is very disturbing. They used billions of naira to construct this and see what scavengers have done. And this is what we are doing on a daily basis to make sure that this does not happen in Lagos,” the concerned male resident who did not identify himself said in the video.

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The Mile 12 discovery

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Meanwhile, a fresh concern emerged again following another bridge in Lagos, somewhere at Mile-12, showing a vandalized part of the concrete side of the overhead bridge with a suspect caught in the act by vigilant residents who lamented the spate of bridge vandalism in the State.

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Residents who reacted to the criminal act, however charged relevant authorities to intervene immediately to prevent further damage and protect public safety across the metropolis. The residents also called for increased security and surveillance around public infrastructure to curb the activities of scavengers and vandals.

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A state under siege

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In most parts of Lagos, scavengers are wreaking havoc at an alarming rate. Last month, the Lagos State Police Command ordered a raid on a scavengers’ enclave along LASU/Iba expressway where drugs and dangerous weapons were discovered. Arrests were also made.

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However, many people were shocked to learn that some of the scavengers arrested for the vandalisation of the Alakija-Festac link bridge were sentenced to very lenient prison terms of two to three months. But under Section 337 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015, willfully and unlawfully damaging property is punishable by up to three years’ imprisonment. For some estates in Lagos, the cart pushers who are referred to as ‘Baban bola’ have been barred from entering their estates. But the Lagos State government has begun a crackdown.

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