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  • News - South West - Lagos
  • Updated: March 13, 2023

Train, BRT Collision: Cashless Policy Took My Daughter's Life — Victim's Dad

 Train, BRT Collision: Cashless Policy Took My Daughter's Li

Femi Aina, the father of Oreoluwa Aina, who was one of the casualties of the train and BRT accident which occurred at the PWD Bus Stop in Ikeja, Lagos on Thursday, March 9, 2023, has blamed the cashless policy in Nigeria for the death of his daughter. 

Oreoluwa was before her death a member of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) who, according to her father, boarded the BRT on the fateful day because she had just N200. 

"If not for this cashless nonsense policy, she would not have followed that bus. But she did not have cash, so she had to follow the bus. She had just N200.

"They just kill people anyhow in this country," Femi said in an interview with the Punch.

In narrating how he received the news of his late daughter, Femi said: "I was in Abuja watching the television around 9 am when I saw the incident.

Oreoluwa Aina In NYSC Uniform

"An hour after that, I got a call that my daughter was involved in it.

"That was when I knew what I saw on TV was actually happening to me.

"Then I immediately called my younger brother and sister in Lagos.

"I later received two more calls in another 10 minutes and by then, she was already in the ICU (intensive care unit).

"They were attending to her and at the same time calling me from there.

"I even heard some of the staff members praying for her.

"So, I rushed to the airport to get any available flight back to Lagos but when my plane was ready to take off by 4 pm, I was told that she had passed away."

The father of the deceased 28-year-old described his daughter as "a gift from God to me and that is what her name implies. She feared God and she was hard-working.".

He added that she was a nice child who had visions and ambitions.

According to him, the late Oreoluwa was preparing to go to the United Kingdom for her Master’s programme after her youth service ends in May before she met her death.

Oreoluwa, who studied Pure and Applied Chemistry at Osun State University, was said to have graduated last year after seven years of studying a four-year course. 

After her mobilisation for NYSC, Femi said: "She was happy. When she eventually came out, I told her that she was already a success after going through all the stress.

"I did not know that would be the end of it all.

"When she started serving with the state government, we discussed and planned how she was going to get a meritorious award after her service year.

"I told her to serve very well so that the state could give her an award.

"I was expecting the meritorious award but it was a death certificate that I got.

"I was just too eager for her to finish. She was my first daughter.

"Her death is painful because I have invested so much in her."

He added: "This world is cruel. A girl that was full of life when she left home was now brought back dead."

When ask how it felt to lose a child, Femi said: "The feeling can’t be described.

"Normally, when you hear the news that somebody is dead or people have an accident, there are personalities attached to those people.

"She is my daughter; I can show you some of her text messages on my phone.

"When I went through them again, I felt so bad.

"She called me names like, “O.G, Nigga, Daddy, how far?” We have tried, we have planned and just for her to finish and then, we go from there."

He further explained that Oreoluwa was into catering and music and had so many plans.

The deceased's father noted: "It was just this youth service which is mandatory that she wanted to complete and then fly."

On his assessment of the state's response to the incident, Femi said: "Sincerely, I was impressed.

"When I arrived in Lagos, I went straight to LASUTH and I saw how the victims were being attended to.

"I saw different injuries with different segments and how they were trying to help everybody.

"They tried their approach to that level of emergency. They were trying to salvage whatever they could."

Femi, however, expressed sadness over the damage caused by the BRT driver.  

"I am not happy with the driver at all. The driver had caused a lot of damage.

"I learnt they want to do a mental test for him.

"Let the law just take its course. I can’t say what is on my mind," he said.

On his expectations from the state government following the accident, Femi said: "The government needs to carry out a re-evaluation of our drivers, especially those who carry such a large number of people.

"A lot can be done to evaluate people so that we keep our lives in their hands.

"Possibly, the way they do for pilots, if we can value our lives like that, this thing could have been averted because my thinking is that the driver must have been doing something like that before now.

"This cannot be the first time. When they are doing roadworthiness, they should also do mental worthiness or whatever they can call it.

"We hear tankers falling on cars in this same Lagos, things that are not meant to happen normally.

"We can take them seriously as doctors who spend seven to ten years in school because they want to treat a human being.

"But we just give a driver a license to convey close to 95 people in a bus at a time and we don’t know the health or the mental state of such a person. We take them as just drivers but our lives are in their hands.

"So, if there is anything the governor can do to evaluate them if possible – constantly."

Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, on Sunday, confirmed the discharge of 53 victims of the accident which claimed at least seven lives and left many injured.

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