The management of Nigerian Railway Corporation has dismissed 11 members of staff for illegal collection of cash from passengers on board Ibadan to Lagos standard gauge train service.
It was gathered from the company source that the former employees were dismissed after an investigation by a committee set up by management on the alleged collection of cash from passengers instead of directing them to buy tickets from the cashiers at the counters.
Some members of staff of NRC at Obafemi Awolowo Station were suspended by the management for allowing passengers to board Ibadan-Lagos train without obtaining tickets from the ticket counter.
The suspended employees were identified in a viral video advising intending passengers on October 2, 2023 not to buy tickets from the counters on the premises that they will be sorted out inside the coaches.
Over 60 passengers allegedly paid N3,600 cash each after the train departed Obafemi Awolowo Station.
The deputy director public relations of the corporation Yakub Mahmood had in a statement described such an act of negotiating with passengers not to purchase tickets from the ticket counters before boarding the Ibadan-Lagos passenger train as flagrant disobedience of rules and regulations of the corporation.
He advised intending passengers to insist on purchasing tickets before boarding the train adding that staff found wanting will be disciplined according to the extant laws guiding operations of the corporation.
Lastast Monday in Abuja, the NRC launched an online portal for passengers wishing to board the Lagos-Ibadan and Warri-Itakpe passenger trains to book online while those who cannot book online still have the opportunity to procure tickets from the ticket counter.
