Some security personnel and officials of the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) have subjected Nigerians to untold frustrations and heightened insecurity through ticket racketeering on Warri-Itakpe and Abuja-Kaduna trains.
Nigeria’s railway modernisation project seeks to upgrade the country’s rail infrastructure by transitioning from the outdated narrow gauge system to the international standard gauge system.
This upgrade enables high-speed train operations, enhancing efficiency, safety, and connectivity across the railway network.
Abuja-Kaduna is a 186km line with standard gauge railway tracks from Idu, near Abuja, to Kaduna in the north-western region of Nigeria. It has nine stations and features both passenger and cargo trains.
The passenger trains on the line can be operated at a speed of between 200km/h and 250km/h while each passenger train can carry up to 5,000 commuters.
The Federal Executive Council (FEC) approved the sum of N1.1 billion ($6.6 million) in October 2014, for the procurement of two locomotives for the Abuja- Kaduna standard-gauge rail lines.
The construction of the Abuja-Kaduna rail line was started in February 2011 and completed in December 2014 with China’s support. Then President Muhammadu Buhari officially inaugurated the line for commercial services in July 2016.
While the Ujevwu–Itakpe Railway is a standard gauge railway that connects the port city of Warri to the inland town of Itakpe. Its construction began in 1987 on an industrial railway to supply the Ajaokuta Steel Mill with iron ore and coal. After a protracted construction period of more than 30 years, the railway was finally inaugurated in 2020 as a mixed freight and passenger line.
The Warri-Itakpe station, connecting Kogi, Edo and Delta states, has 12 stations inclusive of the start and terminus; Ujevwu, Agbarho, Okpara, Abraka, Agbor, Igbanke, Ekehen, Uromi, Agenebode, Itogbo, Ajaokuta and Itakpe. The train runs a trip daily from Ujevwu to Itakpe and returns on the same day.
To complement the initiative, the NRC successfully installed electronic digital passenger screening point and notification sign across the railway stations.
Identified as the first of its kind with a unique design technology worldwide, the ASNL TB 100/100 has the capacity to scan through luggage at same speed, process and break down all contents packed at the fastest advanced inbuilt technology.
These scanners also have inbuilt display detection system for safety and suspected dangerous substance.
Also, its high-speed detection system is at five seconds per luggage with video image CT of detecting objects for analysing and tracing, assisted by an easy wheel for movement with programmed lock for and against vandals.
With this development, it is supposed to be safe to say the authorities in the transportation ministry have made the safety of Nigerians in the railway system important to the government. But while it’s working well along Abuja-Kaduna route, it is not so at Warri-Itakpe. It was not put to use when our correspondent used the train.
Booking Of Tickets
Passengers at Itakpe Station
Picture: Ojo Gbenga Nicholas
There are two classes of tickets – standard and business. For Abuja-Kaduna, the standard ticket costs N3,600 while the business class ticket costs N9,000. For Warri-Itakpe, Standard costs N5,000 while business class costs N9, 000. In the standard coach, there are 88 seats while in the business class, there are 56. Via the online platform, you can choose the seat you want based on availability.
Security Personnel And NRC Crew Smuggled Passengers Into Train At Uvjewu – Itakpe
At Itakpe-Uvjewu route, travelers do not need tickets to get on the train, as security personnel and NRC crew members are prepared to take them through the bush and back doors.
“Where are you going to? Let me take you through,” said one of the policemen who approached our correspondent when he arrived at Uvjewu station at about 6:50 am on the day of the trip.
So many passengers had queued behind the ticket booth struggling to book manually. Many of the passengers were heading to Abuja because it’s an easier and less stressful way to connect to the Federal Capital Territory than going by road.
Since, I didn’t book online, my only option was to book manually, so I followed the lead of the policemen whoapproached me.
I was expecting the policeman to lead me to the ticket booth, but was shocked when he told me that it wouldcost me N5,000 and demanded the money. After collecting the money, he asked me and another passengerto follow him.
Security personnel taking passengers through the bushinto the train. Picture: Ojo Gbenga Nicholas
I looked around and saw other policemen and cabin crew members talking to different passengers while the policeman took us into the train through back, without any security check.
The policeman put us in Coach six of the train, gave us seats and told us that if the owner of the seats showed up, we should simply move to any other empty seats. Theother passenger got angry.
“What do you mean, sir? Does it mean, I don’t have of my own seat after paying 5k (N5000)?” he asked.
I later discovered that every ticket has a seat number. At this point, I started observing the activities of the other police personnel and the cabin crew members on the train.
I checked other coaches and discovered that they were busy doing the same thing.
The journey went on smoothly until conductors (train managers) came to ask for my ticket. The police officerpopularly known as Yellow told the conductor, “They are with me.”
Then I realized that some of other passengers on thecoach also did not have to show their tickets.
When the owners of the seats came in when we got to Agbor, we stood up and remained standing from that point till we got to Ajaokuta. At a point, the other passengerwith me sat on the floor.
Rear end of the train through which illegal passengers got access into the train and how crowded it was
Pictures: Ojo Gbenga Nicholas
During the trip I noticed that a lady on my coach was not happy. When I asked her what the problem was, she said, “I can’t imagine that this is happening to me. I was deceived. This is my first time here and I thought the security man who approached me wanted to help me to get a ticket.
“He asked me to follow him which I did, He collectedN5000 from me for the ticket but left me stranded here. Imagine him telling me that the owner of the seat can come anytime, which means I’m not the rightful owner of the seat after paying the complete money for the trip.”
Security officers approaching travellers
Pictures: Ojo Gbenga Nicholas
Another passenger who also shared his experience with SaharaReporters said, “On Wednesday, August 28, around 6:21 am, I arrived at Itakpe train station. Immediately I got there, a man walked up to me and welcomed me in a very friendly manner to the station.“First, he told me I arrived late and that the train had been completely booked except if I wanted to stand on the train. He, however, added that I shouldn’t be worried because he would get me a comfortable seat. He said once the train is ready to move, he will do the needful.
“So, I sat down to wait just as he said, but a man beside me asked if I trusted him. He asked, ‘What if he wants to extort you?’
“So, I quickly rushed to the booking office to book a ticket for myself. On getting there, they requested for my details and I provided them. When it was time for me to make payment, they said I could not pay cash and that I could only use a POS system.
“I opted to pay via my bank app but they said no. So, I gave them my ATM card but it was to no avail. None of the POS machines provided was working.
“After some time, one of the workers told me he had a ticket for sale if I was interested and that there wasnothing anyone could do about the situation.
“Out of curiosity and fear of being left out, I accepted to buy the ticket from him. He told me that someone actually booked the ticket, but the person was no longer taking the trip. So he gave me a ticket belonging to one Otemu Paul.
“Later on, around 7:23 pm, I saw some of the security officers attached to the train alongside some of the train officials running after passengers and ushering them into the train.
“I became more curious and decided to know what was going on, only to discover that they were selling duplicate tickets to passengers at the same amount used in booking a seat on the train, and pocketing the money.
“As the journey began, lots of complications arose in the train because many passengers onboard started fighting over seats. The whole place was crowded so most of us had to stand.”
“The system is extremely corrupt; I’m calling on the relevant agency through to do the needful by bringing sanity to the system. We can’t continue like this. The Nigerian rail system needs to be overhauled,” he added.
Quick Business For NRC Officials At Itakpe
Different tickets sold at different stations
When I got to Itakpe, on my way back to Warri, I approached the ticket stand myself just to avoid what happened at Ujevwu station, where the ticket vendor told me that there were no more tickets. He said the only available tickets were for those who didn’t mind standing.
I was thinking of a way out when he said he had one for sale for N7,000 instead of N5000. Since I was not ready to stand, I paid the money. He gave me a ticket with Samuel Ibrahim on it.
While sitting down, waiting for the train to arrive, many crew members approached me for the same kind of ticket at 7,000.
“Have you gotten your ticket? I have a ticket for N7,000,”a civil defence officer said.
When I observed closely, I discovered that tickets were been hawked around the station by crew members and security operatives.
When I entered the train and sat down, I realised that many passengers had a similar experience me while thosewho paid for standing tickets did not have uniform tickets. Agbarho station tickets were different from Agbor’s while tickets from Agbor station were different from those of Abraka station.
Black Market Tickets For Abuja-Kaduna Trip
It took me three days to book my ticket online from Kubwa to Rigasa. After I tried booking for two days without success, I approached the booking department at Kubwa station to make a complaint. The workers there said I can only book between 12am and 12:30am, 24 hours before the trip. One of them said sometimes the train gets fully booked within five minutes of opening the portal. So I wondered how a train with at least 10 coachesthat can accommodate 88 passengers be fully booked in five minutes of opening the portal around midnight.
I went back home and stayed awake till midnight as he advised. I was on it till around 12:15am when I was finally able to successful book a seat. I also observed that the morning section of the train which was scheduled for 10:30am was fully booked as at 12:28 am.
The afternoon trip scheduled for 1:30 pm was fully booked around 1.30 am.A week observation revealed thatthere usually traffic when booking a seat for the Abuja to Kaduna trip on Fridays, or when booking for the Kaduna to Abuja trip on Sundays.
I arrived at Kubwa station around 10am for the journey scheduled for 10:30am. I looked out for people selling tickets around the station but couldn’t find anyone as everyone appeared to be careful so as not to talk to the wrong person.
Many people who couldn’t book their tickets online were seen stranded and complaining bitterly around the station.
However, on the train, I initiated a conversation on how difficult it was for me to book a ticket and was shocked to see many people sharing their experiences on what they also went through, while some explained that they bought their tickets from black market.
On my way back to Abuja from Kaduna, I decided to patronise the said black market. I called the number of the agents’ numbers I collected from a passenger on the train.
“Hello, please my name is Gbenga; I’m in Kaduna right now and I need a ticket to take me back to Abuja,” I said.
“There is no ticket again except you want me to get it for you at the black market,” he replied.
“Black market?” I queried, and he said, “Yes.” I told him to help me out and said, “It’s N6,000.”
I told him it is no problem. An hour later, he sent his account details where I paid in N6000. Few hours later, I received the ticket with a different name and details.
He told me he will need to introduce me to the person who will take me in because the security operatives may deny me entrance since it is not my name that is on the ticket.
I met him on the scheduled day at Rigasa station; he was with two other people (a man and a woman). He handed us over to a young man who took us to a middle-aged man at the station. The man took us to another person – a security officer – at the entrance of the station. The man insisted that we must pay N2000 each before he would allow us to go in.
“No problem, sir, can I transfer the money,” I said. But the man declined, saying, “No, I don’t accept transfer, see POS there.”
Just two of us were able to pay, while the woman said she didn’t have money to pay. The man then took us in and abandoned the lady outside the station. In total, we paid N8000 each for tickets that should cost N3600.
Picture: Ojo Gbenga Nicholas
NRC Quarterly Report Does Not Tally With Website Information
In a recent report, Nigerian Railway Corporation said it witnessed a growth in revenue collected as of the second quarter of 2024 but saw a decline in goods transported within the period.
This is according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics.
The report shows that in the second quarter of 2024, a total of 689,263 passengers travelled via rail system compared to 675,293 recorded in the first quarter of the year.
The NRC also made a total revenue of N1.69 billion from passengers in the first quarter. This represents an increase from the N1.42 billion recorded in the first quarter of the year.
The volume of goods/cargo transported via rail in Q2 2024 stood at 143,759 tons compared to the 160,650 tons recorded in the first quarter of the year, which shows a fall.
In the quarter under review, the NRC reported a volume of goods/cargo transported via pipeline which stood at 5,940 tons, a fall from the 8000 tons recorded in the first quarter of the year.
Similarly, N537.36 million was collected from goods/cargo conveyed via rail in Q2 2024, a fall from the N607,315 recorded in the first quarter of the year.
However, estimated data obtained from NRC website by a security IT expert who analyzed it showed expected website traffic and the difficulty users are experiencing in securing train tickets.
The website was analyzed through https://pro.similarweb.com/#/digitalsuite/websiteanalysis/overview/website-performance/*/andhttps://app.neilpatel.com/en/traffic_analyzer/overview?domain=https%3A%2F%2Fnrc.gov.ng%2F.
He explained that the website may not be the only source for purchasing tickets, which could explain why the overall numbers of tickets sold and visitors are not fully reflected in the website data.
The report reads in part, “Traffic Volume Discrepancy: The actual monthly visits (23,184) are significantly lower than your expectations. You’re expecting 30,000-75,000 visitors from Abuja alone in a month, which is much higher than the total monthly visits recorded. This suggests a substantial gap between expected and actual traffic.
“User Behavior: The average visit duration of 2 minutes and 4 seconds is relatively short, indicating that users might not be spending much time navigating the site or attempting to purchase tickets.
“Users view an average of 2.83 pages per visit, which is moderate but could suggest some exploration of the site.
“The bounce rate of 42.86% is moderately high, indicating that many visitors leave after viewing only one page. This could be due to frustration with ticket availability or site usability issues.
“Ticket Availability vs. Traffic: The quick sell-out you describe (10-20 minutes within 12am – 12:20am of each 24-hour sale period) suggests a high demand relative to supply. This doesn’t necessarily correlate with overall website traffic, as it could be caused by a small number of highly motivated buyers or automated systems.
“Possible Explanations For The Discrepancy: Underreporting; the website analytics tools might not be capturing all traffic accurately, or there could be issues with data collection.
“Seasonal Variation: The data covers August – September, which is a low season for travel in Nigeria. This could explain lower overall traffic.
“Limited Ticket Supply: The number of available tickets might be much lower than the demand, causing quick sell-outs regardless of overall website traffic.
“Concentrated Buying Times: Most users might be accessing the site simultaneously when tickets become available, creating a surge not reflected in overall traffic numbers.
“Bot Activity: Automated systems might be purchasing tickets quickly, outpacing human buyers and potentially not being fully captured in analytics data.
“Ticket Supply Manipulation: There’s a possibility that the actual ticket supply on the website doesn’t match the total number of seats available (2,000 seats from Abuja to Kaduna).
“Multiple Purchase Channels: The website may not be the only source for purchasing tickets, which could explain why the overall number of tickets sold and visitors isn’t fully reflected in the website data.
Estimated data from NRC website
Security Experts Speak
Dr. Kabir Adamu, a security expert said the issues raised are just a tip of the iceberg, adding that there are other weaknesses in the security arrangements that show huge vulnerability associated with the rail transportation system.
He said, “As someone who uses the train service, these issues are obvious, and they are just a tip of the iceberg. There are other weaknesses in the security arrangements that show huge vulnerability associated with our rail transportation system.
“Security is deployed in layers, from physical security to this process or operational security which is the one you’ve mentioned and that’s one component of the operational security, ticketing. There are several other components, where if we start discussing them you will find out that there are huge vulnerabilities.
“So, in summary, the security risk level associated with rail transportation in Nigeria is high. Any determined threat factor that wants to attack the rail system can exploit this vulnerability. The same way someone can go and bribe an official and obtain a ticket in the fraudulent manner that your investigation has shown, that is how a threat element ranging from terrorists to kidnappers to anyone who wants to sabotage the government given the critical nature of rail infrastructure, the person can also do that.
“And several other threat elements that exist in the country can exploit this vulnerability and achieve their aim.
“The operation that you just identify is the ticketing aspect and ICT related. The platform has been manipulated and whoever is behind that manipulation is objective.
“So if a bad person wants to use that person and the person is fraudulent, if I want to access the location, the first thing I need is to identify fraudulent people. If do, I will know that their motivation is money. I can drop money for them and tell them to do whatever I want. It’s as simple as that.
“There are so many areas that there are vulnerabilities. There are huge vulnerabilities within the rail system; some of them are operational, and other ones are typical security. Some are even appreciated by the management of the organization.
“There are layers of security. All security protocols should be able to detect the threat element, have the capacity to delay the threat elements, have the capacity to deny the threat elements if they decide to go ahead and then have the capability to respond even if they are delayed and still decide to go ahead. The security measures should be able to respond adequately. Then, of course, you review, and then you recover.”
“So those six steps are what every security measure should have, and I can bet you, I doubt if there is one security measure within the rail system that covers all of these six that I have mentioned,” he added.
The Director-General, International Institute of Professional Security (IIPS), Dr. Tony Ofoyetan, said the NRC management “should be able to look inward and admit the fact that its staff members are making a mess of their internet platform for their own gain”.
He said, “If a group of terrorists wants to invade the train, all they need to do is just to buy tickets from our greedy brothers and sisters. It is possible for you to have that mass abduction that government is trying to avoid.”
“So what do you do? You bring in external factor, IT professionals. Then let the platform be monitored in multiple places, that can also help to some extents. Apart from the fact that you should also have time to time check on the platforms.
“It’s even possible to concession that part of transaction to an IT firm. Let the firm become liable, it will shock you that things will change,” he said.
NRC Reacts
Meanwhile, Yakub Mahmood, NRC spokesperson, when contacted by SaharaReporters, said the matter will be investigated.
“Thank you for that privileged information, the management will investigate it,” he said.
This story was produced in partnership with Civic Media Lab under its Grassroots News Project.