Reps to probe train service ticket racketeering

The House of Representatives has frowned at the reported case of ticket racketeering on the Kaduna/Abuja train service and directed the Management of the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) and Secured 18 Company Limited to strengthen their internal mechanism with a view to eradicating the menace.

The House is also to carry out a comprehensive investigation of the reported ticket racketeering with a view to ensuring that the aim of establishing the train service is not defeated.

The position of the House followed a motion sponsored by Zayyad Ibrahim on the activities of ticket racketeers that are trying to make invalidate the Automated E-Ticketing System to address complaints of ticket racketeering.

Ibrahim told the House that there has been a tremendous increase of passengers at Idu and Kubwa Train Stations in Abuja, as well as at Rigasa Station in Kaduna due to the increased security challenges on the Abuja-Kaduna Expressway.

According to him, the increase in the number of passengers led to ticket-racketeering, an ugly practice that led to the arrest of five suspected train ticket racketeers in 2019 by operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

He disclosed that the project, which is operated by a private firm known as Secured 18 Company Limited under Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) with the Federal Government, is valued at N900 million and the Concessionaires are expected to be paid in 10 years.

He said if the activities of racketeers are not curbed, passengers will continue to be denied the privilege of accessing the train services as, sometimes, a train may leave the station without carrying the required number of passengers. This is so because the tickets are not accessible or affordable to the majority of passengers.

Credit: The Nation