An X user has accused some staff of the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) of ticket racketeering, thereby denying the organisation the opportunity to generate appropriate revenue.
This is as the NRC has debunked the racketeering claim, saying that its e-ticketing platform is synchronised and protected against any form of fraud, reports The Guardian.
The X user with the handle: @Faotu Happy, had posted on Sunday how he was almost denied boarding a train to his destination due to the “fully booked” response he received from the booking portal.
According to the X user, who didn’t mention where he was booking from or his destination, all efforts by him to book his preferred coach were abortive until he settled for a lesser coach.
He, however, expressed surprise that, upon arriving at the train station, many of the incoming passengers were buying tickets directly from the corporation’s staff.
He alleged that this indicated the ticketing staff held back many seats, only to sell them to desperate passengers at higher rates.
He warned that the country would continue to regress with such an unpatriotic attitude, lamenting that integrity was constantly sacrificed for quick profit.
He said: “Yesterday (Saturday), I was trying to book a train ticket. The moment the site opened around 4:30 pm, Coach 1 was already fully booked. I panicked and quickly checked Coach 2, which was almost full as well.
“So, I immediately moved to Coach 5, where there were only a few seats left. I booked one right away. Within 20 minutes, every single seat was gone.
“But let me tell you what really happened when I got to the train station this morning (Sunday). People were there buying tickets directly from staff. That means a large number of seats were likely held back and later sold at outrageous prices. That is not business. It feels criminal.
“Situations like this are why progress feels so difficult. When systems are manipulated and ordinary people are forced to pay more just to survive, it damages trust and fairness.”
However, a NRC staff member denied the racketeering claim.
The source, in an interview with our correspondent, explained that the train’s e-ticketing platform opens 48 hours before departure and is synchronised to prevent any form of racketeering.
He said this is necessary to allow travellers to plan their journey in advance.
According to him, the first class (coach 1) has only 24 seats, which usually gets fully booked because of the limited seats, while coaches 2 and 3 (56 seats) are business class.
Also, he said the NRC has standard class, which are coaches 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 & 9 (88 seats).
He said that sometimes seats are available on coaches 8 and 9 because customers always book from the top to bottom, and that once all seats are fully booked, ‘No available seats’ would be displayed on the portal.
However, the former General Secretary, Nigerian Union of Railway men (NUR), ’Segun Esan, expressed surprise at the racketeering claim, but said there is no system that is insulated from manipulation.
He appealed to the management of NRC to investigate the claim, sanction any erring staff if found guilty, to prevent recurrence.
He said: “There is a need for square discipline and sanction for whoever is involved in ticket racketeering, but if this is investigated and nothing funny is discovered, it becomes imperative on the Nigerian railway authorities to step up the additive essence of its passenger trains by increasing the coaching facilities or the frequency of the trains to accommodate the market share offered it.
“The commuting public requires longer trains to accommodate them on their train journeys.”
Similarly, some passengers aboard the Abuja–Kaduna rail line have narrated unpleasant and shocking experiences along the corridor, ranging from alleged ticket racketeering and overbooking to operational and mechanical failures.
The commuters, who spoke to newsmen in Abuja, said they were left stranded for more than three and a half hours on a journey designed to last no more than two hours.
More alarming were claims that attendants on the train were forced to pour buckets of water on an overheating power car mid-journey, plunging the coaches into darkness each time as the cooling systems and lights tripped off.
They expressed disappointment that the service, meant to be a safer alternative to the insecurity reported on the Abuja–Kaduna highway, had turned into a gruelling ordeal.
A passenger, Mr Solomon Abiona, said his suffering began four days before his planned journey from Abuja to Kaduna.
Abiona said he made repeated attempts to purchase tickets on the booking platform but was informed that all seats were fully booked.
