Tinubu’s free train rides amid stampedes of death, by Casmir Igbokwe

December 23, 2024
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CASMIR IGBOKWE

Akuko n’egwu Mike Ejeagha” (Mike Ejeagha’s fables in music) is usually how some Igbo people of Nigeria dismiss a yarn that looks quite ridiculous. One of such Ejeagha’s songs which trended recently is ‘Gwogwogwo ngwo’, the story of how the cunning tortoise conned the elephant to receive some rewards from the king.

The news of President Bola Tinubu’s recent approval of free train rides for Nigerians nationwide to mark the festive season can be described as ‘akuko n’egwu’. The free rides started from December 20, 2024 and will end January 5, 2025. The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, told State House correspondents in Abuja earlier this month that the free rides were part of measures to ease transport costs during the Christmas and New Year celebrations. The free train ride was also offered last year. “This is consistent with the President’s desire to cushion the effect of transportation, especially to the most vulnerable Nigerians,” Idris explained.

The Federal Government also reportedly slashed interstate transport fares for the Yuletide season by 50 per cent to reduce travel expenses for Nigerians. Government was said to have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with key transport stakeholders who will implement this.

Some media reports indicated that passengers were excited at the free train rides. These passengers were said to have lost hope of travelling to see their loved ones this festive season because of the high transport fares.

This is understandable. The majority of Nigerians are suffering and cannot afford transport fare to their homeland to partake in the joy of the season. No need talking about air fare because only the rich can afford that. But road transport fare from any part of the country to another this season is usually double of what it used to be. Before the festive season, transport fare from Lagos to Onitsha, for instance, went for between N30, 000 and N35,000 if it’s a Sienna car. It will be far higher this period. If one is travelling with one’s family, the amount of expenditure increases. I know a number of families that travel to the South-East every Christmas. This year, only the head of the family will travel just to save cost.

For those who will be travelling in their own cars, it is also not easy. Before Tinubu came on board as President in May last year, I used to fill the tank of my car with about N10,000. Then, the price of fuel was less than N200 a litre. Today, to fill my tank takes me about N80,000. Of course, you have to refuel midway into your journey before reaching your final destination. And for the days or weeks one will stay in the village, one will still fuel the car. This means to drive down to the East for the festivities and return to my base in Lagos afterwards, I will spend not less than N300,000 on fuel alone.

This is the tragedy many Nigerians are living with today. When you add the cost of feeding the family and other expenses, you discover what many Nigerians are going through.

There is no point talking about the prices of foodstuffs. If a 50kilogramme bag of rice, which was less than N8,000 as of 2015, could go for over N100,000 today, with the same level of income or even less for many breadwinners, you will understand the enormity of the hardship in the land. Meanwhile, many states are yet to implement the N70,000 minimum wage the government agreed with the organised labour recently. People groan in silence. Some confused nursing mothers move about with babies strapped to their backs begging for money. Relatives frequently disturb their kith and kin perceived to be rich. Many of them fail to understand that in Nigeria today, many people are struggling for survival. It’s either you are very rich or you are very poor. The person you are begging for money is probably looking for someone who will bail him out of a difficult situation. In simple terms, Nigeria is going through the worst cost-of-living crisis in decades. At 34.6 per cent in November, inflation is at a 28-year high and the Naira is at its worst rate against the dollar.

Look at what happened last week alone in Ibadan, Abuja and Anambra state. At least, 48 people died during stampedes to collect food items. In Ibadan, Oyo State, 35 children died in a stampede that occurred during a school funfair organized by the Wings Foundation and Agidigbo FM Radio to distribute gift items and food to kids. In Abuja, about 10 people died last Saturday, December 21, 2024, and some others injured while struggling to enter the Holy Trinity Catholic Church premises in Maitama, hours before gift items were to be shared. More than 1,000 people were later evacuated from the church. In Okija, Anambra State, about 20 people reportedly died the same Saturday while also struggling to collect food items given by an illustrious son of the town. This is what Nigerians have been reduced to – a beggarly people stripped of their humanity.

If one may ask, how many people will the so-called free train ride impact? How many Nigerians travel by rail to far distances? It is a known fact that South-Easterners travel most in festive seasons like this. How many rail lines connect Lagos to Onitsha or Abuja to Enugu, or even Kano to Owerri?

Former Senator Shehu Sani reportedly stated that the Kaduna-Abuja free train ride only facilitated the movement of thugs. Writing on his X handle last Friday, Sani said, “The FG Kaduna-Abuja free train ride is a good gesture that has not helped those travelling for Christmas but provided an opportunity for thugs to take over the station and then the train seats, just travelling to and from Abuja without purpose.”

It is unfortunate that we asked our father for bread and he gave us scorpion. The free train ride is nothing but a smokescreen to give the impression that we have a caring President. It is like giving one a heavy blow on the forehead and dabbing at the swollen part with ice block. It is cosmetic and insignificant, to say the least.

The President knows what to do if he sincerely cares for his people. A former Deputy National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Bode George, suggested that he should reduce the price of fuel to N300 per litre this season to enable Nigerians to celebrate the festive season. Saying government could absorb the losses, George noted, “If Madam First Lady could donate N1 billion to a university, she could also donate into the coffers to bear this cost.” This is a tall wish. He will not do that because that will be negating the removal of fuel subsidy which he announced on assumption of office last year. Thank God that Dangote Refinery has reportedly reduced the price of fuel from over N1,000 to about N899. How this marginal reduction will reflect on the retail prices in filling stations remains to be seen.

What the President needs to do is to implement tight fiscal policies that will positively impact on the economy and ultimately on the people. Dangote Refinery and the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited have been having different altercations. If Dangote Refinery is not sabotaged and if the public-owned refineries are made to work, fuel prices will come down on their own. If government officials are not wasting money on luxury cars, exotic houses and such frivolities, there will be enough resources to take care of the needs of the people.

Nigerians have continued to suffer in silence because the country is not primed to succeed. We keep having leaders imposed on us by an ineffective electoral system. The true wishes of the electorate do not count. Voters waste their time and energy to go and vote, but the powers that be thwart the people’s will at the end of the day.

Countries where votes count have shown bad leaders the way out of power. The recent example is the defeat of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the December 7 presidential election in Ghana. The outgoing Vice-President and presidential candidate of the ruling party, Mahamudu Bawumia, lost to former President John Dramani Mahama of the National Democratic Congress (NDC). Ghanaians felt the incumbent government has failed them with bad policies resulting in worst cost-of-living crisis in a generation and a poor economy. Mahama has assured of a Ghana that considers the well-being of all her citizens and affords them each the ability to live a life of dignity, a life of limitless opportunity. Liberia and Senegal also saw incumbent presidents losing out to opposition party candidates in recent elections. The day Nigerians discard ethnicity and religion and get the electoral system right is the day leaders will stop telling us Ejeagha’s fables.

  • IGBOKWE, a former Editor of Sunday Punch, is publisher of Newsprobe, an online platform.

  • Follow us on all social media platforms @dailyquery for more stories around the globe.

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