Chaos, touting, overwhelm Abuja, Kaduna train stations
Nnamdi, a Kaduna-based spare-parts dealer, was in Abuja last week to take delivery of some wares that arrived from Aba. Nnamdi had urgent need to supply his customers who had made financial deposits for replacement engines of some cars. They couldn’t find the parts as quickly as desired so they deposited money with Nnamdi who […]
Nnamdi, a Kaduna-based spare-parts dealer, was in Abuja last week to take delivery of some wares that arrived from Aba. Nnamdi had urgent need to supply his customers who had made financial deposits for replacement engines of some cars. They couldn’t find the parts as quickly as desired so they deposited money with Nnamdi who placed orders to Lagos. The goods arrived Abuja a few days later and Nnamdi needed to dash to the Ekeson Motor Park in Jabi, Abuja to convey them to Kaduna. He planned to hire a truck from the Jabi Park for the Kaduna trip to coney the goods. Then news spread around the park through drivers who loaded vehicles the previous day that kidnappers had a field day along the Abuja-Kaduna road, taking many passengers hostage, robbing many, wounding some and killing others. A very scared Nnamdi, quickly changed his mind from going to Kaduna by road, and decided to send the goods through a truck driver while he proceeds to the Idu Train Station to pick a train ticket for Kaduna. The federal government had conceptualized the Abuja-Kaduna rail line to ease transportation between the two very important cities in the country. Beaming with that confidence.
Nnamdi’s disappointment
Nnamdi breezed into the station in a chartered taxi, hoping to quickly pick a ticket to board a train to Kaduna while the truck went on road with the car parts. But he met a multitude of passengers scrambling for tickets at the train station, and while he was still haggling with touts to obtain a ticket and join the long queue of other passengers, the truck driver had arrived Kaduna and was calling him to off-load his goods.
Ticket racketeering thrives
Ticket racketeering has continued unabated at the Idu station as large crowds of passengers scramble to get on board the Kaduna-bound trains.
The insecurity on the Abuja-Kaduna road, followed by incessant robbing, killing and kidnapping by bandits has forced most travellers to abandon travelling to Kaduna by road, thereby exerting pressure on the train service.
The pressure has then engendered obnoxious hikes in ticket prices and ticket racketeering. Some passengers who spoke to Daily Trust said it had become very difficult to get tickets at the official prices of N1, 500 for economy class and N2, 500 for first class and keeping to scheduled time.
Inflated ticket prices
Mr. Usman Shehu Adamu, who was waiting to board the 10: 00 am train to Kaduna when Daily Trust visited the station, said, “It is very difficult to get tickets here. Last week when I was coming from Kaduna, it was also difficult because there was a hike in the price of the tickets. The first class ticket they normally sell at N2,500 was sold at N7,000 and the economy which is N1,500 was sold at N3,000. And after getting the ticket at a high price, there is every possibility that you will stand throughout the journey.
“As a result of insecurity on the road, many people prefer to travel by rail, so when you board the train, you would find out that there is no seat for you. There are times passengers clash over seats, especially when two or more people have the same ticket number for the same seat. So the situation has created an avenue for sharp practices.”
He said ticket racketeering had caused serious overcrowding.
“It makes the whole place congested and uncomfortable for us,” he added.
Mr Abdulwaheed Niyi Adepoju, who blamed both government and passengers, said, “Actually, they are following due process in selling tickets here, it is left for us to come on time so that we can leave the time we want. The government has fixed price for the tickets, if those who sell the tickets add money, the money does not go to government coffers, but personal pockets and we don’t expect the government to know about this so we have to raise the awareness.”
He added that the ticketing clerks most times reserve the tickets for their friends or relatives before they get to the train station.
“This is the practice in our society and we cannot stop it, but it is better we stop it and do service delivery on the basis of first come, first served,” he said.
He also said some people who have connections go to the station, buy tickets and sell at the black market.
He advised the government to create online platforms on which the tickets would be sold to reduce the problems encountered while buying the tickets.
“The station is full these days because of the security problems we are having on the Abuja-Kaduna road. Some of us want to go by road, but we feel it is safer to go by train to protect our lives and loved ones. I have discovered that if you really want to use the train, one need to be here at least two hours before the time to see if you can get tickets. You can take a bus to Kaduna for N1,500 but because of security reasons we are paying up to N3,000 here for train and we still have to waste a lot of time,” he added.
Another passenger who pleaded anonymity said, “I was at the train station since 6am on Thursday and they said the tickets were finished, both for the train of 7am and 10am. They asked us to put down our names so that we could get tickets for the 2pm train. I think it is difficult to get tickets. I spent the whole day at the train station last week in Kaduna because of the difficulty in getting tickets and even when you get it eventually, you end up paying higher,” she said. The Idu train station manager, Mr Victor Adamu, did not pick phone or reply to a text message sent to him for comments.
FG plans against racketeering, chaos
Daily Trust gathered that as a result of the surging crowd of passengers at the Abuja and Kaduna stations, coaches designed for 200 passengers now carry up to 500 passengers with many of standing throughout the journeys. Ticket racketeering has become a recurring decimal at the stations.
The Minister of Transportation, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi confirmed this on Monday when he inspected the ongoing Lagos-Ibadan standard gauge project, saying policemen would be mobilized to arrest those involved.
Increase in train coaches
Amaechi said he had directed the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) to deploy two coaches from the Itakpe-Warri railway station to increase capacity of the Abuja-Kaduna service.
“We discovered that some people would buy tickets and resell. We will put policemen there to arrest them. Even if you put policemen there, that won’t solve the problem. The queue is because the coaches are not enough, people are standing. The reason for which we bought those coaches was for people to sit down. So, I have directed that they should move two coaches from Itakpe-Warri to Abuja-Kaduna.”
Electronic ticketing
The deployment of the electronic ticketing solutions, according to sources, has been tabled as the only permanent solution to end ticket racketeering.
Daily Trust gathered that the NRC is on the verge of concluding the ticketing solution, having shortlisted companies which won the bidding process for the service.
It would be recalled that the NRC in August 2017 advertised for the ticketing contract following which over 1000 companies applied.
The Managing Director of NRC, Fidet Okhiria, told newsmen recently that once the ticketing solution was completed, prospective customers could make bookings for tickets online.
Final preparations
At the time of filing this report, it was learnt that the process had been completed and is undergoing the approval process with the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC).
The Director of Procurement in NRC, Ben Iloanusi, told Daily Trust that the shortlisted companies were expected to submit their Outline Business Case (OBC) and Full Business Case (FBC) to the ICRC which would review it with the NRC and issue certificate of compliance.
“This is what we are waiting for and once we have these OBC and FBC documents from the proponents (the shortlisted companies), we will soon complete the process”, he said.