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Travelogue
fairy tales. But now, it’s like reality
check and I couldn’t but wonder
what great disservice we had all
done to our country by not giving
tourism its pride of place.
From time immemorial, the
railways had provided a solid route
for moving people and goods
across the country: students, traders,
civil servants, holiday makers
and tourists were presented the
opportunity to traverse the length
and breadth of the country in its
rich and raw diversity. That was
before the railways fell into disuse
for no justifiable reason except the
misplaced priorities that came with
the oil boom. Until the Goodluck
Jonathan Administration took the
bull by the horn.
We have not yet got to the
destination of efficient high speed
rail journeys; nor are we near the
cosy interior of 21st century digital
rolling stock; but we have made a
beginning, a legacy that subsequent
administrations can improve
upon. Taken together with the
ongoing Abuja Urban Rail link,
there is hope that before long,
travellers will begin to witness a return
to the “good old days”. I am
earnestly looking forward to a ride
in the Abuja rail link. Soon!
The Beginning
I walked briskly into the Iddo
Terminus of the Nigerian Railway
Corporation (NRC) in Lagos at
about 11: 15 am on Friday, 18th
September, 2015 to obtain a ticket
and board the train to Kano, Kano
State capital. With only 45 minutes
left for the train, code-named Dr
Goodluck Jonathan to take-off, a
sense of urgency had enveloped
me.
Locating the ticketing counter
was very easy. Once there, I paid
N2, 900 for an economy class,
took the tiny hard brown ticket
and moved straight to the platform
that leads passengers into the train
proper. Peeping through the train
windows to know which coach that
had an empty seat, I made my way
from the last economy coach to the
first without finding an empty seat.
All the seats were occupied.
I moved to the first class seater
coach and discovered that most
of the seats there were empty. The
difference between the first class
seater coach and economy was
N1, 600 since the former costs
N4, 500. At that point I decided
to return to the counter to upgrade
my ticket. But as I jumped down,
the train horn rang out: p…aaa …
aam paaaam!
The horn jolted me to the realization
that something significant
had happened. It had been over
two dozen years I last heard the
blare of a long distance train,
equipped with snake-like rolling
stock and set to make a longitudinal
odyssey across Nigeria. Then I
reflected on the name of the train,
Goodluck Jonathan, Nigeria’s immediate
past president for whom,
reviving the rail system had been
an article of faith.
I could sense some ecstasy in
the air, even organized confusion.
As soon as the horn went
off, movements changed. A
cacophony of voices rented the air;
pandemonium everywhere. Those
who were feeding their babies
stopped; those making last minute
purchases promptly terminated
their transactions while some
passengers who had already dozed
off jerked back to life. More
passengers who were sitting and
standing outside started to jump
into the train in droves. For once, I
was terrified.
My Kano assignment was very
important; either I jumped in at
that point or I would have to wait
till next week Wednesday when
the next train would travel to
Kano again. To worsen the situation,
the Sallah celebration was
just approaching and that meant
more movement of passengers
and their properties. As at that
day, most Moslems living in the
West had already started going
back to North for the celebration.
At the same time, Moslems from
the south west sojourning in the
North were making the homeward
journey to commemorate what is
regarded as Islam’s equivalent of
the Christmas. These factors made
the patronage received by the
NRC to be very high that week.
Enough of the recapitulation; suffice
to say that I promptly hopped
into one of the economy coaches of
the train.
I gripped an iron frame as the
train with registration number
2220 pulled out gradually from
the station. There were over 2, 500
passengers on board: children,
women, men and the elderly all
heading to different destinations.
Curiously, there was no formal
announcement to the passengers
before the train departed at exactly
12: 01pm. I was not searched,
either at the gate, platform or even
before entering the train. I also
know that most passengers that
rode with Dr Goodluck Jonathan
that very day were not searched.
Was that intentional? Was it a
security lapse? How were NRC
security personnel sure that no
malevolent persons were on board,
bidding their time to wreak havoc
on the passengers?
I kept wondering as ‘Goodluck
Jonathan’ pulled its 19 heavy
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