One fateful evening, Nurat (not real names) had been waiting to board a train from the Iddo train station in Lagos to Ijoko in Ogun State where she resides. Then the trip was delayed. As a Muslim, she suddenly realized that it was time for prayer. She disembarked and went to pray, hoping the train would still be around when she returned.The train was there as she made her way back. But suddenly, she realized that it was already moving, though slowly. She ran towards the moving train for her bag was in the train! She got to the last coach on the train in time.
Two men, standing at the entrance, tried to help her get on board. They pulled her, but the train was gaining speed. They pulled and pulled, but still could not get her on board. Suddenly, the men eased their grip on Nurat and she fell onto the rail tracks. The sight was a painful one. This account as related by an eyewitness, Peter Abi-Abiola, was just one of the many risky things people often try while on a train ride . Of them all, the riskiest seems to be hanging on a moving train.
Another evening, middle-aged John also fell a victim. He was journeying home to his family when he met his untimely death. As the train got to the Agege area of Lagos, John was lost in thoughts. Normally, John and his co-travelers would bend to avoid being knocked off by the low bridge at Agege. John did not get a chance to duck for he was lost in thoughts at that critical moment. The bridge knocked him off and he fell to his death. That was another account by an eyewitness, a young female recharge card seller. The young woman warned the reporter against taking a shot of the train because, according to her, “they will throw stones at us.
They don’t allow anyone to take their picture. Sometimes, you may not even know that one or two of them are standing beside you. The other day, one man was trying to take their picture when all of a sudden someone slapped him from behind. Before you know it, another one appeared and they gave the man the beating of his life.” Pointing at a group of men sitting at the rail tracks just by the Ikeja train station house, the young woman added “See, those people are waiting for the train to come.
As soon as it comes, they will start climbing from all angles. I don’t know why they take such risk with their lives. You will think that they don’t have money, but many times when they fall off, you can find as much as N10,000 on them.” For close to two hours, Sunday Sun waited for the shot. The first train which passed at about 5:00pm did not have many people on the roof. But by the time the second one came at about 6:50pm, it was a sight to behold. You would imagine that you are staring at a beehive as commuters clung to the train from all sides.
“There is no week that at least one person doesn’t fall off the train,” said Abi-Abiola, adding “But people will still feel that it won’t happen to them. Then they will start attaching some sentiments to it and saying things like ‘His own time has come,‘That is how God wants it,’ etc.” One may be tempted to think that people take the risk of traveling on the train due to poverty. But the opposite seems to be the case. “Some of them often obtain tickets. We have seen cases where some fall off the train and die; and by the time people search their pockets, they will find huge sums of money.” So, why would anyone in his right senses obtain ticket for a train ride and choose to travel on top of the train?
Abi-Abiola says “Some of them just want to show that they have energy; that they have power. Some others may not have the liver, but they want to imitate their friends. When they see their friends doing it, they will equally imitate them .” What could be so special in such friendships, you may be wondering. “When they are there, they will be smoking Indian hemp, drinking hot drinks and a lot of other things like that.” Sunday Sun spoke with Abi-Abiola during a visit to the Iddo train terminus. It was observed that no one attempted to hang on the train at this station. The reason seems to be the presence of security checks at the station. However, once the train leaves Iddo, it becomes a feast for all. “They normally start hanging when the train gets to Yaba,” explains Abi-Abiola. “When it gets to Mushin, the climb continues. You know, that is the enclave of the Area Boys. Then they go on and on as the train stops at the stations. By the time the train gets to Iju, people will start alighting.
At that point, some of them will come down and take seats, but most of them will not even bother. They will stay atop until the train gets to Alagbado.” Abi-Abiola expressed the view that security agencies were not doing enough to check the menace. He was especially worried about the lives being wasted each time people fall off the train, calling for security checks at all train stations. “These are young men. When it comes to war, it is the men that will fight the war. When it comes to some other difficult assignments like that, it is the men that will go. So, why should we now close our eyes and watch them die and waste away?” The Lagos District Public Relations Officer of the Nigerian Railway Corporation, Muyiwa Adekanbi told Sunday Sun how much a headache those erring travelers were causing the corporation.
“We have been arresting them. If we arrest them today, if they don’t come back tomorrow or next, definitely, they will come back. If you go to our police station here, you will see them. If you go to the chief magistrate court, Yaba, you will see that we are prosecuting them.” People complain about the trains being few and congested. Adekanbi explained that the corporation has “increased our coaches. We have increased the number of trains running from four trips a day to 15 trips a day; so that, if you don’t get on one, you will get on the next. We have even added more coaches from seven to nine; though the management is still working on that. We want to add more coaches to create more room for more people.
We are aiming at increasing the trips on an hourly basis. By then, we can be sure that commuters that will still go up and hang are those that do not want to obey the law. “If you go up there, you will see them smoking Indian hemp. It is just like a safe haven for them to perpetrate their nefarious activities. They don’t want to buy tickets, but if you arrest them, you will find money on them. We have arrested a lot of them and found money on them.
The Lagos State Government even came to our assistance by giving us their environmental taskforce members who help to arrest these miscreants. Those guys are recalcitrant.” Adekanbi said the corporation “has written to the Federal Government for approval to fence out all our stations. If we fence the stations out, you cannot enter the station if you don’t have a ticket.
“We have been trying to educate them too that ‘if you get a ticket and sit in the train, it is to help you.’ Every ticket you purchase carries insurance. If you fall off the train, you are on your own because you are not covered by insurance. Insurance covers only those that purchase a ticket. So, we keep telling them “go into the train and sit.”
Source: Sun
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