Passengers at Iddo bus station in Lagos say travelling by road to the north has become a frightening gamble.
Rasheedat Eniola, a 29-year-old nurse travelling to Kano for her sister’s graduation, said the recent kidnappings have left her anxious about the journey.
Her words: “Each moment I’m getting closer to my travel time, I’m thinking, I’m asking myself, am I doing the right thing. Everybody I spoke with about the trip said they don’t have money to pay ransom.”
Her bus is expected to spend more than 24 hours on the road, driving through states hit by mass abductions in recent days.
More than 300 students and teachers were taken from a Catholic school in Papiri, Niger state, while 25 schoolgirls were abducted from a boarding school in Kebbi.
Dozens more were seized in separate attacks in Kwara and Borno states.
Although the Kebbi schoolgirls and some of the Papiri students have been freed, many abducted persons remain missing.
The atmosphere onboard long-distance buses reflects the heightened fear.
“If something happens — if I brake suddenly — they jump, thinking someone is going to kidnap them. We are used to it, and we can’t stop working ”said Adamu Inusa, a 61-year-old driver heading to Kano.
Transport operators report fewer passengers.
“In the last four to five months, we loaded about three to four buses a day. But due to this insecurity, some businesses have stopped,” said Salomon Zachariah, a manager.
Some Nigerians have halted all travel outside Lagos.
Waheed Shafe Omo Oba, a minibus driver, said he will not venture out of the city.
His words: “I cannot go out of Lagos. But we are worried about what is happening over there. Are they not Nigerians?”
Eniola said she feels abandoned by the government and traumatised by the recurring kidnappings.
“I felt betrayed, I feel like they are not taking us as important. We had the Chibok girls kidnapped, and we knew what we went through to bring them back. To see history repeat itself is so disappointing,” she stated.
The article was originally published on Politics Nigeria.