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From Romanus Ugwu, Abuja
Apart from the disturbing casualty figures and the arrangements in place to resume operations few days after the terrorist attack on an Abuja-Kaduna-bound train, undying insinuations about ticket racketeering during the ill-fated attack actually overshadowed every other incident concerning the attack.
Like wide fire, the short, sharp message which read: “Nigeria Railway Corporation: Manifest; 398 tickets bought, 362 confirmed boarded, 970 actually on board, welcome to the developing story of ticket racketeering in the Nigeria Railway Corporation (NRC),” had continued to trend ever since the incident happened.
The heightened report over the ticket racketeering disappointingly overshadowed the number of deaths, the injured, the abducted ones who are still in the custody of the kidnappers and the survivors.
The play up in the ticket racketeering was a resurrection of the controversial incidents of the menace that have become an insoluble part of the operation of the train services that have refused to be checkmated.
In his comment during a ministerial press briefing sometime last year, Minister of Transportation, Hon. Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi, had casually admitted the involvement of certain railway staff in the ticket racketeering, warning that “the ministry will not hesitate to discipline anybody indicted in the ugly incident of ticket racketeering.”
In 2019, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had arrested suspected five-man syndicate train ticket racketeers in the Abuja-Kaduna train operation during a sting operation at the Idu and Kubwa train stations following an intelligence report.
In a statement issued by Tony Orilade, the then acting spokesperson of the EFCC, the suspects arrested included Clement Zakka, Udim Sunday Samson, Adams Danladi, Otitomoni Omobolanle, and Hassan Dauda.
Describing the activity of the racketeers as sabotage to the government efforts in ensuring easy transportation across the country, the operative noted that: “investigations revealed that some members of staff of the station in connivance with some touts were defrauding unsuspecting travellers and selling train tickets at a higher rate.
“For economy ticket of N1,300/N1,500 they were selling at a rate of N2,000 to N5,000 and for first class which goes for N2,500 was being sold for between N7,000 to N15,000. Three persons, including a staff of the station and two touts have been arrested. The Station Manager, Chief Marketing Officer and Chief Parcel Booking Officer of the Kaduna Railway Station were also invited for questioning.”
Although some persons claimed that the racketeering equally involved those without tickets gaining entrance into the coaches and paying cash to the train operators, however, investigations proved that the racketeering does not go beyond ‘tickets-have-finished’ syndrome.
According to them, a fraudulent operation exists where racketeers, in connivance with the train staff, buy up the available tickets only to resell them to desperate train users at very exorbitant prices.
Narrating his experience, a passenger who spoke to Sunday Sun in confidence claimed that he had to pay an additional 40 per cent ticket hike to meet up with travelling to Kaduna several times.
“They had told me on arrival that the tickets have finished, but while the engine of the train started revving, a signal to notify everyone that it was about to take off, a fair-complexioned young man inside the departure lounge, who apparently noticed my disappointment and desperation to join the train, had waved me.
“On entry, he asked me if I am willing to pay N5,000 for a N2,600 ticket. I initially declined, bargaining to pay N3,000, but when he told me that I was not serious and started pretending to be walking away, I offered to pay N4,000 which he accepted and collected the cash from me. I have had that experience about three times since I started following the train. I am ready to pay the additional amount than to be in the custody of those bandits along the road,” he quipped.
Investigations also revealed that the racketeering took a disturbing dimension as a result of COVID-19 social distancing protocols. This is because despite increasing the ticket prices from N1,300 to N2,600, as measures to guarantee respectable distance between passengers, the train operators will sell the marked and reserved seats to desperate travellers. “During the period of COVID-19, passengers bought tickets double the amount because of the social distancing protocol. But it was only observed in breach as the seats expected to be reserved were negotiated and sold to desperate passengers. It was a tactic deployed to ensure that those who are in the queues without tickets at the regular price, but desperate to travel were compelled, at dying minutes, to negotiate their ways into the train through the facilitation of greedy railway agents,” a source told our correspondent.
However, dismissing the insinuations about ticket racketeering, especially the claims that trailed the recent train attack, the Managing Director, Nigeria Railway Corporation (NRA), Fidet Okhiria, insisted that there was no iota of truth in the claims that 970 passengers were on board the attacked train.
Speaking to Sunday Sun in Abuja, Okhiria insisted that no passenger gains access into the train without an authentic ticket.
“We have released the number of passengers on the train during the attack that we know is very authentic. Whoever gave out the other figure of 970 passengers should tell Nigerians where it came from.
“If the person was inside the train, did he or she stand up to count the number of people inside? For your information, no passenger can access the train without an authentic ticket. And even if you manage to enter, you cannot leave the station because only the ticket permits you to leave the station. So, there is no iota of truth in the frivolous claim that we overloaded the train with 970 passengers speculated to be on that train that was attacked,” he insisted.
Okhiria equally updated Nigerians, especially train operators on the actions taken since the unfortunate mishap, promising that train operation will hopefully resume this month.
His words: “We have moved one of the locomotives back to Kaduna. We have a crane that can go there, pick up the locomotive and return it to the track, but there is not enough space to manoeuvre the crane. Our target is that within the next two weeks, normalcy will return and we will be able to resume train operation.
“For the quantum of damage incurred, which you asked, what I can tell you is that it is only when we successfully take the coaches to the workshop that we can ascertain the level of damage to know if they are parts we can source within immediately or they will be imported.
“The bullets fired at the coaches were so much and even if we resume operations, we are going to limit ourselves to operating by day. There will be no more night operations. On the monetary losses, we will have to return to the workshop to access the situation. Don’t forget that a coach has several components, comprising the electrical, the inners and outer, the frames, the mechanical, and the best way to access it is when we get to the workshop.
“The good news, however, is that my men have already started work and the security situation at the site will determine when we are going to finish it. However, as I said earlier, we hope to finish it in two weeks’ time. We will also depend on the security report and advice to know when we will start operation fully. Our determination is to resume operations so that we don’t allow the bad to defeat the good.”
Asked about the additional security measures they intend to put in place to avert future occurrences, Okhiria said: “We have police and Civil Defence commands as part of the security architecture in train services. We are already liaising with those within our reach. The minister and the ministry are already talking with the higher authority like the Military, Air Force.
“I don’t pretend to be a security expert, I am a rail operation expert, but all I can assure Nigerians especially train users is that we are perfecting every security arrangement. We have security experts working with us we depend on to give us security report and information to work on,” he said.
