■ How train hoppers defy commonsense on Lagos railways
The sight of men in their prime hanging on to, sitting comfortably
or lying carelessly on a moving train can send one’s heart into one’s
mouth. However, this can only happen to anyone seeing this dangerous
scene for the first time. This weird act, which is like tugging at the
tail of death, is always a spectacle to behold by Lagos residents who
often wonder what on earth will make young men hop on a moving train
without any fear for their lives.
Despite the fact that they see their “compatriots” fall to their deaths, they still continue in the death trap trips. A concerned resident told Saturday Sun: “I don’t understand why people will refuse to sit in the safe cabin but hang onto the coaches of trains and it’s not like they don’t have the money because the fare is very cheap. The most surprising thing is that when one of them falls off, others don’t learn, they still continue in these dangerous rides.”
Saturday Sun discovered that the men, who hang on the coaches, do so outside the terminals where there is no law enforcement official in sight, when the train stops or has started moving, especially at Ikeja along sub-station.
According to the Assistant Director, Public Relations, Nigeria Railway Corporation, Mr. David Ndanusa-Ndakotsu, the hoppers do it for a plethora of reasons. While many Nigerians will go to fun centres to enjoy a ride on the merry-go-round train, some of these train hoppers prefer to catch fun with a moving train. He also attributed this attitude to indiscipline. “It’s just an indiscipline of the average Lagosian or the Nigerian public, they don’t appreciate what they have. But you know some of them are drunkards, drug addicts, so they just want to catch fun while endangering their lives. People hang around or sit in between the coaches or ride on rooftops because it’s a general indiscipline of the average Nigerian. Some do not want to pay, some do it because of hooliganism, it’s a culture that has been with us for a very long time over the years and we have been trying to educate and teach them,” he said.
It was gathered that the NRC in conjunction with the Lagos State Government and the Federal Road Safety Commission have pulled their weights into nipping the endangering trend in the bud. “We have tried to stop it and we do this by making campaigns on the radio both in English and the three major Nigerian languages. We also did it in conjunction with the Lagos State Government and Federal Road Safety Commission to organise enlightening talks on radio stations. But what we discovered is that these elements are diehard who smoke hemp or drug and indulge in bad practices. So, what we do occasionally is to use our railway police command to arrest them and charge them to court,” he said.
When the corporation which commutes over two million Lagosians daily discovered that the enforcement measure was not yielding the required compliance, it resorted to advocacy. According to Mr. Ndakotsu: “We discovered that that was not enough so we decided to engage them directly through advocacy. We were appealing to them and enlightening them about the dangers of riding on top of the trains. We tell them that, ‘Look if you buy your tickets you will see the conditions stated there that if you are inside the train and anything happens you are covered by insurance. But if you hang on rooftops and anything happens to you, the corporation is not liable so they should desist from such practices but they don’t, you know the attitude of an average Nigerian.”
Part of the measures put into place by the corporation to curb this act was an hourly running of train rides and purchase of fast moving trains. “Our mass transit train runs 16 trips every hour going and coming. Those 16 trips approximate about two million passengers. So, lots of Lagosians depend on the railway in their commuting to do their businesses and to their workplaces. The act is ridiculous and that’s why we said, ‘okay let the train be running every hour so that if you miss the first one within an hour you will go with the second one.’ So, you have no cause to say we don’t have space. The corporation also purchased fast moving trains,” he explained.
Saturday Sun learnt that many of those who hang on the trains are hoodlums who do so to carry out atrocities and not because of overwhelming demand or high cost. Another concerned resident who spoke to Saturday Sun on the condition of anonymity said: “Those boys that hang around the trains are criminals and they are very dangerous. The fare is very cheap but they prefer to hang on the coaches so they can commit all sorts of atrocities. The issue is almost beyond the corporation but the corporation is really doing its best to stop this act.”
When Saturday Sun asked if the train hoppers could not afford a train ride, the corporation revealed that the fare is very cheap, if not the cheapest means of transportation. “As I said earlier most of them don’t want to pay for the tickets and it’s very cheap. From Iddo here to Ijoko or Alagbodo in Ogun State is about N150 which will cost about N1,500 by road not to mention the stress people go through in changing buses and traffic. You know just like they say that everything bright and beautiful the average Nigerian will want to destroy it, they don’t appreciate it,” he revealed.
These offenders not only carry out nefarious activities but stone or beat to a stupor journalists or anyone who tries to capture them on camera in the act. One of such victims was Tunde Ogundeji, a chief photographer of Newswatch Times Newspaper who was beaten and sustained a head injury. According to an eyewitness, the offenders came down from the train in large numbers and before anyone could say Jack Robinson he was beaten like a thief. More than two persons who work in the corporation told our correspondent to be wary of “those militant boys” as they could be very hostile towards any journalist.
Though some of the culprits fall off sometimes and lose their lives in the process, that would however not deter others. “Falling off the train is not a daily occurrence, it’s just something that happens once a while. I think last week Wednesday or Thursday, one journalist called me and was trying to confirm if someone truly fell off while trying to climb the train. They climb using the steps and then the window. They have a way of climbing sometimes they even help themselves up. How can a human being sit on the rooftop of a train?” the NRC spokesman asked.
The corporation, however, reiterated its stand to put an end to the deadly trend while insisting that it does not support train hoppers. “We are not tired, we always go on enlightenment talks in all the media platforms to let them know and desist from such practices. So, in a nutshell, that is what we are doing. Nobody tolerates that, it is against the law and we have a couple of them that have been charged to court,” Ndakotsu added.
Despite the fact that they see their “compatriots” fall to their deaths, they still continue in the death trap trips. A concerned resident told Saturday Sun: “I don’t understand why people will refuse to sit in the safe cabin but hang onto the coaches of trains and it’s not like they don’t have the money because the fare is very cheap. The most surprising thing is that when one of them falls off, others don’t learn, they still continue in these dangerous rides.”
Saturday Sun discovered that the men, who hang on the coaches, do so outside the terminals where there is no law enforcement official in sight, when the train stops or has started moving, especially at Ikeja along sub-station.
According to the Assistant Director, Public Relations, Nigeria Railway Corporation, Mr. David Ndanusa-Ndakotsu, the hoppers do it for a plethora of reasons. While many Nigerians will go to fun centres to enjoy a ride on the merry-go-round train, some of these train hoppers prefer to catch fun with a moving train. He also attributed this attitude to indiscipline. “It’s just an indiscipline of the average Lagosian or the Nigerian public, they don’t appreciate what they have. But you know some of them are drunkards, drug addicts, so they just want to catch fun while endangering their lives. People hang around or sit in between the coaches or ride on rooftops because it’s a general indiscipline of the average Nigerian. Some do not want to pay, some do it because of hooliganism, it’s a culture that has been with us for a very long time over the years and we have been trying to educate and teach them,” he said.
It was gathered that the NRC in conjunction with the Lagos State Government and the Federal Road Safety Commission have pulled their weights into nipping the endangering trend in the bud. “We have tried to stop it and we do this by making campaigns on the radio both in English and the three major Nigerian languages. We also did it in conjunction with the Lagos State Government and Federal Road Safety Commission to organise enlightening talks on radio stations. But what we discovered is that these elements are diehard who smoke hemp or drug and indulge in bad practices. So, what we do occasionally is to use our railway police command to arrest them and charge them to court,” he said.
When the corporation which commutes over two million Lagosians daily discovered that the enforcement measure was not yielding the required compliance, it resorted to advocacy. According to Mr. Ndakotsu: “We discovered that that was not enough so we decided to engage them directly through advocacy. We were appealing to them and enlightening them about the dangers of riding on top of the trains. We tell them that, ‘Look if you buy your tickets you will see the conditions stated there that if you are inside the train and anything happens you are covered by insurance. But if you hang on rooftops and anything happens to you, the corporation is not liable so they should desist from such practices but they don’t, you know the attitude of an average Nigerian.”
Part of the measures put into place by the corporation to curb this act was an hourly running of train rides and purchase of fast moving trains. “Our mass transit train runs 16 trips every hour going and coming. Those 16 trips approximate about two million passengers. So, lots of Lagosians depend on the railway in their commuting to do their businesses and to their workplaces. The act is ridiculous and that’s why we said, ‘okay let the train be running every hour so that if you miss the first one within an hour you will go with the second one.’ So, you have no cause to say we don’t have space. The corporation also purchased fast moving trains,” he explained.
Saturday Sun learnt that many of those who hang on the trains are hoodlums who do so to carry out atrocities and not because of overwhelming demand or high cost. Another concerned resident who spoke to Saturday Sun on the condition of anonymity said: “Those boys that hang around the trains are criminals and they are very dangerous. The fare is very cheap but they prefer to hang on the coaches so they can commit all sorts of atrocities. The issue is almost beyond the corporation but the corporation is really doing its best to stop this act.”
When Saturday Sun asked if the train hoppers could not afford a train ride, the corporation revealed that the fare is very cheap, if not the cheapest means of transportation. “As I said earlier most of them don’t want to pay for the tickets and it’s very cheap. From Iddo here to Ijoko or Alagbodo in Ogun State is about N150 which will cost about N1,500 by road not to mention the stress people go through in changing buses and traffic. You know just like they say that everything bright and beautiful the average Nigerian will want to destroy it, they don’t appreciate it,” he revealed.
These offenders not only carry out nefarious activities but stone or beat to a stupor journalists or anyone who tries to capture them on camera in the act. One of such victims was Tunde Ogundeji, a chief photographer of Newswatch Times Newspaper who was beaten and sustained a head injury. According to an eyewitness, the offenders came down from the train in large numbers and before anyone could say Jack Robinson he was beaten like a thief. More than two persons who work in the corporation told our correspondent to be wary of “those militant boys” as they could be very hostile towards any journalist.
Though some of the culprits fall off sometimes and lose their lives in the process, that would however not deter others. “Falling off the train is not a daily occurrence, it’s just something that happens once a while. I think last week Wednesday or Thursday, one journalist called me and was trying to confirm if someone truly fell off while trying to climb the train. They climb using the steps and then the window. They have a way of climbing sometimes they even help themselves up. How can a human being sit on the rooftop of a train?” the NRC spokesman asked.
The corporation, however, reiterated its stand to put an end to the deadly trend while insisting that it does not support train hoppers. “We are not tired, we always go on enlightenment talks in all the media platforms to let them know and desist from such practices. So, in a nutshell, that is what we are doing. Nobody tolerates that, it is against the law and we have a couple of them that have been charged to court,” Ndakotsu added.
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