Trading on death’s path

■ Lagos traders defy safety rules, sell on rail lines

BY LAWRENCE ENYOGHASU AND CHIZOBA IKENWA
“Sura, Sura, Sura”, a woman shouted as she heard a thun­derous sound from afar. The sound was from the economy train arriving Ikeja, the capital city of La­gos State. It made her fearful, and rushed to secure her daughter. Iya Sura, as she was called, sells soft drinks and water on the rail lines at Ikeja.
Sura was at the time her mother was look­ing for her with a recharge card retailer on the other side of the bilateral rails. When she heard her mother’s shout, she turned sponta­neously set to outrun the moving train but the card seller held her back knowing that she would not outrun the train.
If the man had not been calculative, she would have attempted to cross the railway. Who knows how it would have ended for her.
Beside Sura and her mother, Saturday Sun spotted others selling on the rail lines; a shoe seller, a recharge card retailer, and a water hawker and so on.
Saturday Sun tried to know if the traders were aware of the dangers of selling on the railway. Surprisingly, they were all aware that selling on the lines poses a lot of danger to them but they are still adamant on earning a living from there.
A man, Bello as he simply identified him­self, who should be in his late 20s and sells recharge cards told Saturday Sun why people would prefer to stay outside in the open place and sell. “People like me would prefer to sell out here. The money I make here in a space of two hours, I am sure I would not make it in six hours in the shop. This place has more advantage than shop. You know it yourself.” He added that the spot is a hot cake, adding: “The total amount of cards I bring to this place is averagely N20,000 and I sell all in some days.”
Under the guise that one of the reporters is interested in getting a spot on the rail lines, Bello said he paid as much as N5,000 for registration and pays another N500 daily to the Ikeja local council. “Apart from the pay­ment, I also sort the boys so that they won’t just change my spot. Sometimes they can sell your spot and give you new ones. In such situation, you can lose customers.” He, how­ever, refused to identify the illegal tax collec­tors. “When you are ready I will take you to them,” he added.
The risky business is also the order of the day at the Yaba rail lines. There, the majority are hawkers. There are also people who just display samples of their goods for passers-by to see. They have shops inside the main mar­ket, but in order to get more customers than their counterparts in the shops, they move out to display some of the wares.
Saturday Sun gathered from Chiemele, a curtain dealer and interior decorator that they only pay N100 daily to hunt for customers outside and stand on the rail.
According to him, “the omo onile (illegal tax collectors) will tell you that you only paid for shop and not for the rail lines. So, if you want to stay there, you must pay what others are paying. It will not be wise to stay in and pray for customers to come while others are outside whisking them into their shops and making money just because you don’t want to pay N100.”
Also in Ebute-Metta, very close to the Railway headquarters in Costain, the railway lines turn to a mini market before the train’s arrival and departure. The women, who mostly sell stew ingredients, pack their stuffs in mobile trays and baskets to sell.
According to a woman, who identified herself as Iya Alaje, and sells on the lines, they use compactable in order to get off the lines without losing goods and to be at alert when the railway officers decide to raid.
Nevertheless, she expressed her confu­sion. “Sometimes, some people would come and collect money on behalf of the railway officials, later they would still raid and seize our goods,” Iya Alaje complained.
When asked if she did not know that she was endangering her life doing business on rail tracks, she answered with an adage: “The money is where the risk is”
Obviously, she knew the risk involved but she is bent on making money or losing her life or goods. Apart from those selling on the lines,whose lives are in jeopardy, their cus­tomers and passengers who hang on moving trains at a risk of losing their lives.
As part of efforts to seek official reac­tion to the allegations against the Nigerian Railway Corperation (NRC) and Ikeja Lo­cal Government, Saturday Sun contacted Mr. Abdulraouf Akinwoye, Deputy Director, Public Relations of NRC, who dismissed the allegation of the traders contributing money for the officials but said that he was aware that passengers hang on moving trains.
His words: “We are not unaware of the fact that people hang around the trains that run within Lagos. And we will leave no stone unturned in putting an end to the bar­baric act. It is not done in saner climes.
“Anytime you see our train moving we have the policemen and man ‘o’ war on board. We have put in place some security measures.
“Even those people doing it know that it is wrong. Nigerians will not do the right thing. The level of indiscipline in the country is worrisome. So many people have been ar­rested; people have been taken to court and jailed. Much awareness has been created. We have been talking to them to keep off tracks. Sometimes we unleash a task force on them and you see them running. Before you say Jack Robinson, they would come back. We can’t stop them alone, it is a collective responsibil­ity. However, anybody who chooses to sell on the track is on his/her own.
“I repeat, trading on rail tracks whoever is il­legal. For those that are hanging on train tails, they should be ready to face the consequences of the action.
At Ikeja Local Government Area, Mrs.Yisa Mariam, the Public Relations officer, denied man­dating anybody or group to collect tax from those selling on the rail lines. “We do not collect tax from them. It is not our jurisdiction. The rail lines belong to the Federal Government.”