For many years, Abdullah Baruwa was into building construction and was making waves in his chosen career. However, in 2012, he decided to stop and applied to the Nigeria Railway Corporation as a train driver. Luckily after vigorous interviews and screening exercises he was employed, starting from grade level 6.
By Amidu Arije
Baruwa tells his story:
“My name is Abdullah. I am a native of Kwara State; Iwas born in Lagos State 48 years ago. I was a construction engineer, working with a company before I stopped to start my own. That was what I was doing for many years before I applied as a driver to the NRC and, luckily for me, I was employed to start with grade level 6.
Speaking on how life has been, Baruwa said life it was not full of roses but with high faith in Allah things have been going on well with him.
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“This life is not bed of rose; challenges will come but we will always move on to overcome them. If one’s life goes smoothly without some challenges, one would not know the way life is. So, I have faced many challenges and to the glory of Allah, I have been able to surmount them.
Speaking on his current job, Baruwa, said he is enjoying working as a train driver.
“Many years ago, I was into building construction works and I was doing fine in the field, but I resigned from the company I was working for to start operating on my own. This I was doing until 2012 when I joined the Nigerian Railway Corporation as a train driver. I joined as Assistant Locomotive Pilot in Training, as a level 6 officer. It is has been interesting.
Baruwa said no one just becomes a train driver without having gone through rigorous training at the driver’s training institute in Zaria, Kaduna State.
“We had our training in Zaria; that is the place where train drivers are trained. If you are a train driver in Nigeria, you must have visited Zaria. That is the training ground for all train drivers in Nigeria. We have different districts in the railway corporation but the only place we go for training is Zaria. After my training at the Zaria training ground, I was assigned to drive locomotive in Lagos,” he narrated.
Speaking on the challenges a prospective train driver will likely face, Baruwa said, fear is the first thing that grips the mind of a driver. He was fast to add though that the ability to overcome the fear keeps one on track.
“The moment you want to embark on driving, the first thing that grips your heart is fear. Just as it is for everyone that wants to drive, that fear will come in you before you allay it. Fear comes as a result of thinking what could happen if, per adventure, there is an accident on the route? The same thing applies to those who pilot aeroplane; you see yourself as a person that wants to haul all the passengers and sometimes goods in the train, that fear will first of all come to your mind that how will I overcome this challenge. Once one is able to allay the fear; one needs to trust in God and the little experience you have.
“But you must know that it is not by experience that we drive the train; it is by the will of God, because we have many people, who are experienced but their lives have been taken away. I can give you an instance, a professional driver speeding back to Lagos realised that there was a mechanical fault in the engine. He could not stop the train. The co-driver panicked and jumped out of the train through the window to save his life and sustained some injuries. But he was caught with the thought of jumping out too or stay and try to save the property of the NRC and the goods in the train. Because it is God that saves life and takes control of everything we do in life, luck suddenly came his way and the train stopped abruptly. He could not explain what stopped the train. That shows the greatness of Allah,” Baruwa narrated.
He said being a train driver is a pleasure and an opportunity for him and his co-drivers to contribute their quota to the economic development of the country.
“Being a train driver is a great opportunity and pleasure because the moment you take the job, apart from the fear that grips your mind, as a cautious human being, you think of passenger that are going on the journey with you. You make sure you take them safely to their various destinations. As a driver you must have this in mind that you deliver the passengers and or the goods safely because, sometimes, we have goods worth millions that we take to different destinations for their owners. Though we don’t know what is in most of the goods but once it departs the original destination, it must be delivered safely.
“Actually, there is pleasure in driving; we see great joy in it. The passengers appreciate us. In fact, we do our job with enthusiasm because we know what is at stake in doing in it,” he added.
Baruwa said the Nigeria government has both the Mass Tansit Train (MTT) and the Double Multiple Unit (DMU), which he said is faster and well equipped.
“The Dobule Multiple Unit (DMU) is faster than the locomotive. We have it in Nigeria. That tells you that we are advancing in the railway system in the country. Like the locomotive, management also organises training for us to drive the DMU. I can drive the DMU myself because I have gone through the training. The DMU has more facilities than the locomotive. In DMU, we have AC and other facilities that make it more enjoyable and attract most of our passengers, especially the elite, who prefer that to the normal locomotive MTT,” he said.
Speaking on the qualities a person must possess before becoming a train driver, the enthusiastic train driver said courage and reliance on Allah are essential attributes of a successful train driver.
“For you to be a driver, the first quality is that you build the courage first by accepting it as a challenge that you must undertake. If the courage is not there, by the time you face challenges, you will easily give up. After that, you leave everything to God because in the olden days, we had train drivers who had no formal education and they were able to deliver. Though it is good to acquire formal education but courage and reliance on Allah is key,” he said.
Speaking further on the challenge train drivers face, Baruwa said that there is need for insurance cover for the drivers to further enhance their work.
“There is no job without its good and bad aspects. So, driving train is challenging because one will fear that an accident could happen at anytime one embarks on the journey. The issue of insurance is another challenge. I know the management has the interest of the drivers at heart and so, I believe they will look at the issue of insurance for the drivers. If there is a life insurance, that will further boost our morale.”
On the motivating factors for the train drivers, Baruwa said one of them is their ability to contribute to economic growth of the country. He disclosed that on each of their trips they convey between 4,000 and 5,000 passengers, which delights them as drivers.
“Being a train driver is a pleasure; it commands respect and that is enough motivation. Then the other thing that actually motivates us is the contribution we are making to solve the economic problem of our people because if you look at it, you will see that transportation has been our challenge in this country. We are contributing our quota because we convey passengers between 4,000-5,000 per trip; we have MTTs that have such capacity. We are reducing the traffic congestion and stress that people would have gone through, using the roads because in train transportation, there is no gridlock, no traffic jam. Moreover, we help to haul several tonnes of goods across the country. So, all of these give us motivation,” he said.
Giving reasons for continuous whistling the train drivers engage in sometimes, Baruwa, said it is in line with the regulations that they whistle when people are on track and when leaving their stations to create awareness for the train manager and security guards.
“Our track is a permanent track and according to the rules that guide our operation it said there are some areas that would warrant you to blow your whistle. In situation when you see people or animals on track, when you are about to leave your station; you blow a very long whistle to tell the manager and the guards that you are about to leave the station, thereby alerting them. And, at times, you use your initiative when you deem it necessary to whistle, because you know in Nigeria, we have lot of challenges. Maybe because of high level of poverty, you see people walking on the tracks; you continue blowing the whistle; they will not even hear that you are whistling. On many occasions, it is the people around that even draw some off the track to save their lives because they are deeply in thought.
“This high level of poverty has cost many people their lives. You see people selling very close to the track and when a train is coming from very far distance, as a driver, you continue to whistle but some of them will wait until the train moves very close to them before they move their goods off the track. What would we call such a person, animal or human being? You can imagine, because this thing is not something that if it hits you, it will heal again. If the train crushes that person, he cannot survive it because it will grind the person to pieces but if the person is lucky and the train hits and pushes him away, that portion that it hit will never heal again because the whole body of the train is iron. It will cause a permanent damage to the person and that is if the person survives. If you now look at the extent of damage, nobody should someone wait until the train comes closer before moving away from the track. The government is trying to put things in order but you know our people, they are sabotaging government’s effort and they don’t even give regard to the train track.”