NRC penalizes staff involved in ticket racketeering

NRC penalizes staff involved in ticket racketeering

The Managing Director of the Nigerian Railway Corporation, Fidet Okhiria, has confirmed ticket racketeering by members of staff in the corporation.

He however added the NRC identified those responsible and promptly sacked them while those involved in lesser offenses were demoted.

Okhiria stated this while appearing before the House of Representatives Committee on Finance on Wednesday at the 2024–2026 Medium-Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper (MTEF/FSP) interactive session in Abuja.

The chairman of the Committee, James Faleke had asked the NRC MD, saying, “Social media clips show how your staffers are engaging in ticket racketeering,” to which Okhiria responded, “This is true, and the solution to that is e-ticketing, and the government has approved that.”

He said the corporation was working with the security agencies to arrest the menace.

Meanwhile, the Office of the Accountant General for the Federation has accused the NRC of remitting only N345 million in revenue for 2023, adding that the remittances covered January to September.

Faleke, however, expressed worry about the revenue generated, adding that “our concern is that if we expect so much revenue from NRC and we aren’t getting it, then there is a problem.

“I think we should take the decision that the railway should self-fund and take care of their costs and remit to the government the surplus,” he said.