It was Saturday, February 19, 2021, and I went to Rigasa train station in Kaduna as early at about 8:10 am, to buy a ticket to travel to Abuja because the train ticketing app was not responding that day. On getting to the station, I was told all the tickets for the day were sold out.
I then decided to return home to try the app once again, and returned to the train station early the next day if the app failed me again. After several unsuccessful attempts to get the e-ticket, I went to the train station as early as 5:30 am this second day. At the ticketing counter, I asked the lady on duty for a ticket; she said all regular tickets which usually sold for N3000 were exhausted and only the first-class tickets for N6000 were available. I bought the first-class ticket and went to sit in the waiting room. The train was scheduled to take off by 6:40 am and I stepped out of the waiting room to board at about 6:20 am.
At this time, the staff of the NRC were using two of the entry points to sell ‘hoarded’ tickets and only left three points open for those who already had tickets to squeeze through. The multitude who arrived with booked tickets were over 300 hundred trying to pass through three entry points to board the train. This led to a blockage, as passengers pulled and pushed each other to gain access.
We could not help but notice that two of the five exits were used to sell tickets to NRC staff who were scanning tickets. Frustrated, we moved there to use the exit, the unruly queue was shattered and the crowd lost control. I was sandwiched between several people and had to beg to find my way out of the chaos. As all this ensued, time ticked by, and the train left as scheduled by 6:40am.
Stranded, I went to the ticketing point where I bought my ticket. The lady who sold the ticket of N6000 to me, told me that the ticket was valid for one trip and therefore expired. I went to look for the Station Manager to air my complaint, and there was no one to respond to me. When I returned to the ticketing office, I opened the door and there were up to five staff there. None of them responded to my request for a refund or rescheduling of my ticket for future use. Standing there with no succor, I turned to other passengers who were stranded to hear their experiences, and they shared their frustrations which are captured below.
Mr. Adebayo, said, “I tried for 24 hours to log on to the website without success and discussed my frustration with a friend, who gave me an NRC staff number, I called and told him that I needed a ticket, he said he had the one for N3000 and will sell it to me for N3500. He gave me his account details and I sent the sum to the account. Within minutes he sent the ticket through WhatsApp. Promptly, I went to the station and got there by 6:15 am. The whole place was rowdy and disorganized, people pushed each other dragged, and shouted at the top of their voices. The entry points were blocked, when I finally made it to the front of the line, my ticket was wrongly scheduled from Idu to Rigasa, instead of Rigasa to Idu. The staff that scanned me told me to step aside with one of his colleagues who sold N3000 ticket to me at the rate of N4000. By the time we concluded by 6:35, the irate passengers confronting the NRC staff over the two exit points they were using to sell tickets were completely blocked. Many passengers watched helplessly as the train took off.”
He said his N4000 naira was refunded and he had to scout for the 10:35 ticket, which he got for 4500, instead of N3000.
Another passenger I talked to said the staff were selling tickets at two of the five entry points and the three entry points could not serve the passengers, and this led to the chaos experienced by passengers that morning. He however said if the passengers had remained orderly, so many people would not have been left behind.
One other passenger, Shuaib Suleiman, who was left stranded, said only three of the exit points were open to passengers and it made the place chaotic. He said he personally refused to partake in the chaos for fear of contracting COVID-19. He stood aside and watched helplessly as the train departed. He had to buy a new ticket for 10:35 at the rate of N4500 instead of N3000.
Maryam Suka, who also shared her experience, said she booked her ticket online, but it was impossible to get through the unruly crowd that blocked the exit points, and she stood aside helpless when the train took off.
I left to dare the road back to Abuja, and all the brace horrors it portends, by the express road I promptly got a taxi in a park headed for Abuja. While waiting for passengers to come, I continued to be jittery recounting all of the terrible stories I have heard about the fate of kidnapped/robbed commuters.
I stepped out to buy a drink, and met a schoolmate of mine from Kaduna Polytechnic who was also buying snacks there. After a few minutes of chit-chat, he said he was heading to Port Harcourt in an NNPC tanker to deliver petrol. It did not take him long to convince me that it was safer to travel in the most unlikely vehicle. Fear and dread made me embrace the most unusual option, I hopped in and travelled by trailer, arriving at Zuba 3 hours later.
