Danger Looms In Lagos As Women, Children Sleep On Railway Tracks

For some women and their children, the narrow and standard gauge railway tracks in Agege is their bedrooms.

When kadecommunicationng passed through the area on Thursday morning, some of the women and children were seen just waking up and getting set for the days business, while some were still sleeping on mattrases spread on the railway track.

Enquiries by kadecommunicationng revealed that these mother’s and their children go to bed on the rail tracks as late as 11pm when they are sure the last Iddo to Ijoko train has passed. Also, they wake up from bed before 7am, just before the first Ijoko to Iddo train passes through Agege.

Speaking to our Correspondent, one of the mother’s explained that it is very expensive to get an accomodation in Agege giving the nature of their means of livelihoods.

According to the nursing mother who identified herself as Rukayat, “Getting an accomodation in Agege is very expensive, so we sleep on tbe railway track. Everybody has their own space, just enough to accommodate them with their children.

“We know the schedule of the trains (Lagos-Ibadan and Ijoko-Iddo), so we go to bed when the last train has already passed, and we wake up first thing in the morning just before the first train passes towards Ikeja.

“We survive through begging for alms and there is no way we can raise enough fund to get an accomodation here in Agege.”

When asked where the father of the children sleep and work, Rukayat explained that he works in a factory along Oba-Akran in Ikeja and occasionally sleeps with them on tbe rail track.

“My husband works in a factory in Ikeja and occasionally comes here to sleep. Most times, he hangs out with friends and pass the night in market stalls or shops,” Rukayat told kadecommunicationng