The management of the railways, under the Ministry of Transportation, must, as a matter of national security, take maintenance and security advisories seriously. It must prioritise the creation of a desk with the singular task of receiving and acting on security advisories. The safety of Nigerians who use this service depends on it.
The management of the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) recently made a commendable move by accepting responsibility following the recent derailment of a Kaduna-bound train, an incident many frequent passengers attributed to poor maintenance. While the Minister of Transportation, Senator Saidu Ahmed Alkali, has ruled out sabotage based on initial findings, the Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau (NSIB) has confirmed that its official preliminary report is expected soon. The NSIB, the federal agency responsible for investigating transportation accidents, is led by Alex Baden Jnr.
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While we await that substantive report, the management of the NRC must urgently prioritise the maintenance of the train system. There are well-documented dangers associated with the derailment of train services. Furthermore, the NRC must institute a reliable mechanism for receiving and adopting security advisories from military and intelligence agencies. I will point out some instances in which disregarding crucial advisories led to the loss of lives and severe injuries to passengers during the attack of 28 March, 2022.
Primarily, it is important to note that in more than one hundred years of railways in Nigeria, derailments have been life-threatening affairs, even setting aside modern security concerns. These incidents usually stem from sheer negligence in maintenance and safety practices, as we will see later.
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Railway transportation is the heartbeat of an emerging economy, as postulated by Francis Jaekel, author of the most definitive history of Nigerian railways. In his three-volume work, The History of the Nigerian Railway (1997), Jaekel argues that no single enterprise sowed the seeds of Nigeria’s development more than the railway, which rapidly assumed a mantle of paternalism.
Former Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon, who commented on Jaekel’s seventeen-year research effort, noted after intensive reflection that he often wonders what Nigeria would have been without the railways. According to Gowon, it was the railways that enabled the smooth movement of agricultural products from the hinterlands to the ports and allowed people to travel long distances at relatively low cost for trade and other pursuits.
Tracing the role of the railways in military operations, Gowon stated: “It was the railways that supported and strengthened military operations and the movement of heavy-duty equipment and materials needed for industrial works and development.” He concluded that the railways were the lifeline of national economic growth.
From my research, I have found that the railways also played a critical role in integrating Nigerians and breaking barriers of difference and diversity. As Malam Salisu Na’inna Dambatta opined in 2022, “Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe was born in Zungeru, Niger State. Chief Ifeanyi Jim Nwobodo was born in Lafia, Nasarawa State. Chief Bola Ige was born in Kaduna… The three cities where these prominent citizens were born have one thing in common: they are railway towns… This reflects the oneness of Nigeria years before the 1914 amalgamation.”
In his book The Colonial Economy of Jema’a: 1900-1960, Professor Gaius Jatau explains the economic and integrative efficacy of the railway. He notes that Kafanchan, as a railway junction headquarters, attracted people from all over Nigeria. Its ethnic composition was so diverse that the indigenous host communities appeared submerged within immigrant settlers. He also affirmed the railway’s impact on urban migration to cities like Kaduna, Jos, Bauchi, and Lagos in search of wage labour.
It is abundantly clear that railway development has played a vital role in Nigeria’s economic development and integration over the last century. However, since our focus is on safety – specifically the call for improved maintenance and security on all corridors, not just Kaduna-Abuja – we must examine what derailments have cost in human life.
Jaekel reported in his 1997 book that the railway remains the safest means of crisscrossing Nigeria. In the eighty-four years following 1901, he noted sixty-six years with no negligence-related fatalities to fare-paying passengers. However, early accidents were brutal. In 1912, 24 passengers were killed while alighting from moving trains. During the construction of the Eastern Railway, trespassers regularly met their deaths on the unfenced works — eight in 1915 alone — often through panic and ignorance.
The deadliest derailment accident occurred on 16 February, 1970, in the Mada general area. The 156 Down Mixed Kafanchan-Makurdi train derailed at the Langa Langa section, north of Mada Station. One hundred and fifty passengers were killed and about 200 injured. A lorry transporting the injured to the hospital crashed, killing a further 52, taking the death toll to 202. This incident became Nigeria’s worst rail disaster and earned the NRC an entry in The Guinness Book of Rail Facts and Feats. The Federal Military Government ordered a Tribunal of Inquiry, but few details were included in the annual report. Rumours suggested that a preceding train had run into cattle, and the owner, seeking revenge, had removed a length of rail. Other cases at Ilugun Bank, Lalupon, Sayi, Dan Amaria, and Oturkpo led to scores of passenger deaths, prompting the railway management to take safety more seriously.
From these examples, we can infer that railway accidents will happen. Barely a week after the Kaduna-bound train derailment, a derailment occurred in Egypt that left 103 people injured. However, anywhere there are rail systems, the safety of passengers and crew must be given top priority through detailed security management plans, strict maintenance timetables, and adherence to security advisories.
My foremost concern at this time is the conclusion among a large section of passengers that there is a record of slack maintenance and slow response to security advisories. I also had an experience of this while serving as commissioner of Internal Security and Home Affairs.
On 2 November, 2021, on the back of progressive intelligence gathering, I wrote a confidential security advisory to the NRC management. We explained that as part of efforts to secure citizens and protect the Critical National Infrastructure from bandits and terrorists, a thorough review of train operations had been conducted. We therefore requested the urgent rescheduling of services and the cancellation of any service that would exceed daylight hours.
I delivered this advisory personally, expecting an immediate response with necessary adjustments. None came. Members of the Core Security Team — including representatives of the military, police, DSS, and government — and myself kept visiting the management in a drive for prompt action. With none forthcoming, I sent another letter titled, “Reminder: Urgent Security Advisory” on 27 January, 2022. Again, I submitted this hand-to-hand and made further visits. Yet, I received no sign of action in response to these intelligence reports. We began to grow agitated. We were not asking for a suspension of operations, only that passengers should not travel after dark.
The management had hitherto enjoyed the collective support of the state government and security agencies. We helped clear shrubs in and around the Rigasa Station, installed floodlights, stationed security forces in the vicinity, and strengthened security presence on the strategic Rigasa-Link Road connecting the Train Station to the Kaduna Airport Road.
While still hopeful, on 6 February, 2022, we received distressing feedback from our men on the ground: the last train of the day to Abuja had departed Rigasa Station at 8:30 p.m. I was furious and tense until the train arrived in Abuja. This development led to an emergency meeting with critical stakeholders, including officials of the NRC, on 9 February, 2022 at the 1 Division Nigerian Army headquarters. The meeting was chaired by the GOC (Major General KI Mukhtar). At the end, all the parties at the meeting – the military, the Kaduna State Government, and other agencies – acted on the adopted resolutions, except the railway management. This puzzling refusal to act continued until the unfortunate attack on the train on 28 March, 2022, which resulted in deaths, injuries, and the kidnapping of passengers, as I mentioned previously.
In conclusion, and in light of the derailment, which is still topical, I am aware that there has been constant feedback from security forces to the management of the NRC, which, from all indications, has not received due attention. I recall clearly that the immediate past GOC 1 Division, Major General MLD Saraso, visited the railway management on 8 April, 2024, and appealed for proper maintenance of the tracks and other remedies.
Furthermore, between 26 May and 5 June, 2024, derailments occurred around Idda and Jere, linked to a faulty railroad switch, a device that enables trains to safely switch tracks. The derailed train on 5 June was driven by only one locomotive; the remaining coaches were driven back to safety after another locomotive was brought from Abuja. On 11 June, 2024, the military sent an advisory to the management stressing the need for the immediate replacement of vandalised rail line track bolts, establishment of line communication between train stations, adequate security on board, troops on the corridor, and strict observance of routine maintenance schedules to avoid sudden failure of railroad switches. I was aware of these developments before leaving public service in late 2024.
The derailment has come and gone, but it must serve as a springboard for improving passenger safety systems and maintenance of rail infrastructure, which is an integral part of our ecosystem. I reflect on this situation from a position of concern for national security, considering the strategic nature of the Kaduna-Abuja corridor.
The management of the railways, under the Ministry of Transportation, must, as a matter of national security, take maintenance and security advisories seriously. It must prioritise the creation of a desk with the singular task of receiving and acting on security advisories. The safety of Nigerians who use this service depends on it.
Samuel Aruwan is a postgraduate student of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. Email: [email protected]
