When I first saw the news of the Monday attack on an Abuja-Kaduna AK9 train on Twitter, my first thought was “fake news.” Knowing the implication of such an attack, I didn’t want it to be true. But it was, and the attack left many people dead, many abducted, while others lay in the hospitals in Kaduna fighting for their lives. Many other victims are at home, traumatised for life. In recent memory, it was the first successful terrorist attack on a Nigerian train, and its bloodiness has shocked an entire nation.
“For the poor, the road remained their only option and they continued to be attacked. Instead of abandoning the roads, it should now be clear to all that everyone in society should have put pressure on the government to reclaim the roads from the criminals terrorising road users”.
While we do not have enough information on the attack as the government has been less than forthcoming on the incident, we now know from media reports that the rail track was first bombed, forcing the fully packed train to halt. The stranded train was subsequently attacked, with bullets raining into different cabins. Many of those who survived this phase of the attack were subsequently abducted by the attackers, before responding security personnel could secure the area.
According to the Nigerian Railway Corporation, which runs the train services in the country, the train was supposed to carry 398 passengers who bought tickets for the trip, but only 362 “were validated as having boarded the train through the recognized turnstile.” The last of that quoted statement is important as it means we could have more than 362 people on board whose details might not even be known to the authorities making it difficult to contact their families or even look for them. Besides the 362 validated passengers, we do not know the number of NRC staff and security personnel onboard the train.
According to the Kaduna State Emergency Management Agency, 8 people have been confirmed dead, including Dr. Chinelo Megafum, the medical doctor who called for help on Twitter after she was shot. 26 others are receiving treatment in the hospitals. Over 300 passengers and crew are unaccounted for and many are feared abducted by the attackers. It’s best to treat this data as undercounting if previous experience with government data on tragic events is anything to go by.
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The train service between Kaduna and Abuja was supposed to provide travellers with succour after the expressway connecting the two major cities had become the haven of ruthless kidnappers. It was especially embraced by the middle class as well as the upper class who could easily afford the tickets. For the poor, the road remained their only option and they continued to be attacked. Instead of abandoning the roads, it should now be clear to all that everyone in society should have put pressure on the government to reclaim the roads from the criminals terrorising road users. It was always a matter of time for the criminals to move to other means of travel favoured by the elites who are the most profitable people to abduct. And many victims of this attack are bonafide members of Nigeria’s elite class.
While Nigeria, over the last eight years, has invested quite a significant amount of money on infrastructure projects, especially transport infrastructure, this investment could be rendered useless if insecurity is not urgently tackled. The Kaduna-Abuja rail, a $816m project, has already been temporarily shut down because of the event. If there are other attacks on it when it resumes, passengers might abandon it. The Lagos-Ibadan rail line, a $1.5B project, has also faced vandalism and inability to end this might render the expensive line useless. The Saturday attack on Kaduna airport has also shown that airports are not beyond being impacted by insecurity.
It’s high time we tackled the insecurity that has plagued this country for the last thirteen years. It is clear now that ultimately nowhere will be safe from insecurity. It’s in our best interest to put pressure on the government, at all levels, to address the problem once and for all.
