Train Across Nigeria Shows President Jonathan’s Mixed Rule

It’s Friday evening and a group of Nigerian train staff scream at each other as they battle to get power working on a revived cross-country service from Lagos to Kano, the nation’s two largest cities.

Rolling out of Nigeria’s southern commercial hub more than eight hours late, plain-clothed policemen cock their AK-47 assault rifles as they try to push back young men launching themselves onto the carriages to hitch illegal rides as the train chugs through Lagos’ shantytowns. It breaks down repeatedly, and power to the air-conditioned sections cuts out permanently a third of the way through the 42-hour trip, leaving everyone sweaty and coated in dust and grime.