OVER 1,500 train passengers, very early Saturday morning, protested their maltreatment by the staff of Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) at the Ibadan terminus of the corporation, having being stranded at the terminus for over 11 hours.
The passengers informed our correspondents that the train they boarded from Lagos on Friday afternoon at Iddo terminus had been grounded at the Ibadan terminus since 8pm without adequate information by Railway staff.
The train, according to investigation, left Iddo terminus for Lagos on Friday afternoon around 1.00pm and arrived Ibadan terminus two and half hours behind schedule.
Some of the passengers who spoke with our correspondents revealed that the train initially had technical problem before takeoff from Lagos, adding that on arriving Ibadan, they were told that there was a derailment along Iwo rail line axis.
According to them, the last time they were briefed by any officer of the corporation was around 11pm on Friday night that “a cargo train derailed their line along Iwo axis, promising that their engineers are working to fix it.”
One of the passengers also informed that since then, there has not been any further information on the true situation of things. He added that all efforts at getting further information proved abortive as the officers of the Corporation later ran away from the station before 8.00am on Saturday without any solution.
At the moment, hundreds of the passengers are waiting on the next line of action from NRC officials while several others were already considering alternatives as at the time of filling this report.
Details later. . .
and then