NRC to probe ‘ticket racketeering’ on Abuja-Kaduna train service

The Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) says it will address allegations of ticket racketeering on the Abuja-Kaduna train service (AKTS).

In a statement on Saturday, Yakub Mahmood, NRC’s deputy director of public relations, said some officials take advantage of the difficulties some passengers have with the online booking platform to engage in ticket racketeering.

He also appealed to the public, especially the passengers, to bear with the NRC, saying that the situation would soon be brought under control.

“Information has reached the management of the NRC on difficulties of passengers in obtaining tickets online resulting in ticket racketeering on the Abuja-Kaduna Train Service (AKTS) in recent times,” NRC said. 

“In order to arrest the ugly situation, the management has set up a team headed by the deputy director of  ICT to investigate.

“In the meantime, the Managing Director of NRC, Mr Freeborn Okhiria, has directed Mr Mohammed Modibo Ibrahim to report and take over as the Manager of the AKTS with immediate effect. 

“The Managing Director also directed the director  of operation to increase train service frequencies on the route within the next two weeks.”

On January 22, 2021, the federal government launched the N900 million e-ticketing platform for the online purchase of train tickets on the Abuja-Kaduna service.

NRC said the e-ticketing platform was introduced to reduce the physical contact between passengers and staff of the corporation.

In November, the corporation launched the electronic ticketing platform for the Lagos-Ibadan and Itakpe-Warri train services.

The development came after an investigation by TheCable exposed how NRC officials engaged in ticket racketeering at the Lagos-Ibadan train.