How E.Ekesons & Bros. Nig Ltd Ignores Passengers’ Safety Despite Rising Insecurity In Nigeria (PHOTOS|VIDEO)

E.Ekesons & Bros. Nig Ltd., one of Nigeria foremost transportation services, on Thursday, nonchalantly put the lives of its passengers into an unsafe mode during a trip to Northern, Nigeria.

It’s been a bitter experience for some of the customers of one of Nigeria leading transportation companies, Ekesons Transports., as passengers travelling to the Northern part of the country (Abuja, Kaduna, Jos etc) were trapped (11-11-2021) within the Southwest of Nigeria for over 16 hours.

”We were asked to come down inside thick bush because the luxurious bus couldn’t climb, we go back in, down and repeated the processes. That was how will go on throughout the journey. At some point, I have to call my mum to pray for me, because I don’t want to be kidnapped by bandits or kidnappers in exchange for ransom,” a passenger cries out.

Brand News Day Nigeria reports that some passengers of E.Ekesons & Bros reached out to this online news platform about what they encountered in the hands of the transportation company.

Ekesons Brothers Nig Ltd, which prides itself as ‘MANY HAVE GONE, BE CAREFUL,’ has been caught in the acts to be far from what it prides itself and not having regards to its customers’ safety.

The luxurious bus (as it’s fondly marked by most Nigerians) which was expected to offer its passengers luxury treats turned out to be a severe settlement to its customers. The company which promised a fully air-conditioning bus, comfortable and swift conveyance portrays a false sincerity in the offering of its services.

It was a straight ambiguity that the E.Ekeson & Bros’s ABOUT on its official website that ‘At E.Ekesons & Bros. Nig Ltd, we operate bus transportation services according to accepted international standards of road transportation.’ This is a lie far from the truth because operating within the international standards of road transportation should throw preference value to the lives of passengers and their safety during the confines of the journey.

On 11-11-2021, Thursday morning, a passenger (after being disappointed by his hired bus driver) visited the Iddo, Oyigbo Terminal of E.Ekesons & Bros Nig Ltd., while he tried to purchase tickets for himself and his family travelling to Abuja (for an occasion which should come up the Saturday of the week) was told that the bus was expected to take off on-or-before 6 PM of the day. He quickly hastens back home to inform his family that the journey will commence by the said time.

How Ekesons Transport Nig Ltd Ignores Passengers’ Safety Despite Rising Insecurity In Nigeria

Sadly, on getting to the park there was some sort of delay which he believed to be normal, due to the nature exercising its franchise –it rains cat and dog in Lagos State that day– the bus didn’t leave the park until past 7 PM. As if that wasn’t enough, about 15 passengers were already on seats on the bus. The bus took off and turn around in what was described as an excursion within Oyigbo and spent over 3 hours locating its bearing. On getting to Jibowu, Yaba branch of the terminal, the bus didn’t take off until about spending another 2 hrs plus to include more passengers and include more waybills (that presumes to have weighed down the bus) despite the bus condition.

The bus took off at about 12; 03 A.M, after wasting over 6 hrs of its valued customers’ time —imagine a company that abides by the international road standards oo.

According to one of the aggrieved passengers who claimed to have missed an interview which was scheduled to hold on Friday at 12; PM the following day, ‘as if that wasn’t enough, the luxurious bus couldn’t even overtook a single bus for over 14 hours during the journey.

A witness, who was identified as Sulaiman said, the management called on the driver to travel without him being notified ahead of time, and not revealing the condition of the bus he would be travelling with.

According to the passenger, the driver couldn’t protest because it’s the management’s decision for the bus to travel in such a condition and must leave Lagos that night.

However, in information made available to Brand News Day Nigeria, another passenger disclosed that the management was aware of the bus’s ill condition. They promised to change the bus as soon as the driver gets to its Jibowu’s Terminal, unfortunately, no change was made and they were assured of the bus stable condition.

”While people started protesting during the journey, and we have spent over 7 hrs in Ondo State alone, a guy called the customer service of E.Ekeson & Bros Nig Ltd., lamenting bitterly how he was disappointed in them despite their standard of Modus Operandi. After he told them that he would take to social media, suddenly, the customer representatives claimed they have informed the driver to drive the bus to safety before they could decide what was next for them.”

Funnily enough, the state of the country’s security architectural is under a pre-attentive shriek, and Nigerians are advised to be security conscious but the management of E.Ekesons Brothers ignored the safety of her customers and chose money over its passengers’ safety.

This is where the brand’s ingenuity was brought to question. As this was reported to our correspondent, considering the number of similar scenarios that have transpired and the company turning a deaf hear to its customer’s safety becomes questionable.

Moving on, another passenger who doubled as a student of the Kaduna State Polytechnic who sought anonymity cried out that she has been on the bus since Thursday evening (about 7 p.m).

”The bus was later driven to the Jibowu branch of Ekesons, with the hope some changes are supposed to be made since many a passenger has laid complaints that the bus isn’t in a perfect condition to go on a long journey.

”Also, some calls were made to the customer service of Ekesons Ekesons brother’s Nig Ltd., to our greatest surprise, the person in charge stated that the driver has been advised to park the bus at the nearest park but the driver keeps ongoing.

”We were asked to come down inside thick bush because the luxurious bus couldn’t climb up and go back in again. That was how will go on throughout the journey. At some point, I have to call my mum to pray for me, because I don’t want to be kidnapped by bandits or kidnappers in exchange for ransom,” the student added.

This has left some questions on the lips of this writer that is this how transportation companies in Nigeria value their passengers’ safety?

Are there security measures to be put in place, or people’s lives will continue to have been toyed with like the Squid Games (the popular Netflix series)?

Should Nigerians that will be travelling for the forth-coming festive period travel via E.Ekesons & Bros or boycott the brand, acknowledging the rise of insecurities in the country?

As of the time of writing this article, Brand News Day Nigeria has reached out to E.Ekesons & Bros Nigeria Ltd. to ascertain their customers’ ordeal, however, the company is yet to respond to the claims.

Stay safe. December is by the corner.