Fidet Okhiria, managing director
(MD) of the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC), says security operatives are
involved in ticket racketeering in the agency.
Okhiria spoke on Wednesday at an
interactive session organised by the house of representatives committee on finance
on the 2024-2026 medium-term expenditure framework and fiscal strategy paper
(MTEF/FSP).
In October, TheCable exposed how
some staff members of the NRC engaged in fraudulent dealings by smuggling
passengers into trains and collecting cash from passengers without remitting
the funds to official coffers.
Days after the investigation, NRC
announced that it would crack down on the perpetrators, and also introduced an
e-ticketing platform to tackle the menace.
At the interactive session, James
Faleke, chairman of the committee, queried Okhiria about the accuracy of the
report of ticket racketeering at NRC stations.
Responding, Okhiria said: “It is
true. Very true”.
“The solution to that is to
introduce the e-ticket which we have done. The government has approved and we
have deployed them.”
Okhiria said security operatives
— police and Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) — attached to NRC
stations are also involved in ticket racketeering.
“Even with that, it is not just
(our) staff, the security people we engage,” he said.
“We have a video. Thank God we
have cameras. So, we are dealing with the commissioner to bring his men and
civil defence (operatives) to book. They collaborate with our staff.”
Okhiria said aside from
e-ticketing, another measure deployed by NRC is to ensure that those who board
the train without following through the right process don’t get to their
destination.
“But now what we are trying to do, which our
law and our act permit us to do, is to drop the people (passengers) at the next
available station,” he said.
“So, we dropped more than 50
passengers at Agbor last Sunday. I think with that they are learning their
lessons.”
Okhiria said officials who engage
in ticket racketeering are punished, adding that while some staff members are
demoted, others are sacked.
“Some have been sacked, some have
been demoted — depending on their gravity,” he said.
‘INSECURITY HAS AFFECTED OUR
REVENUE’
Okhiria explained that
insecurity, especially on the Abuja-Kaduna route has affected the trip on the
axis, impacting NRC’s revenue.
According to the MD of NRC, there
has been a decline in revenue on the Abuja, Kaduna route from N520 million
monthly to N150 million since the terrorist attack on the train.
He added that trips were also
reduced to two from five everyday.
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