Railway operators in Nigeria’s capital city Abuja have ignored the President, Muhammadu Buhari’s directive on free train rides for the Yuletide season. They have continued to sell tickets at inflated prices to passengers, Peoples Gazette has learnt.
The Nigerian Government had announced the free train service in a notice issued by the Nigerian Railway Corporation with reference number PRO.14/TROPS/VOL.1/50, and signed by the Deputy Director, Public Relations, NRC, Yakub Mahmood, on Friday.
The free train service was approved by the Federal Ministry of Transportation, according to the NRC, as it stressed that the gesture was for all its passenger train services across the country.
The NRC had said, “The Federal Government through Ministry of Transportation has in the spirit of Christmas declared passenger trains across the Nigerian Railway Corporation system free of charge during the Christmas period to enable Nigerians to travel and celebrate Christmas.
Operators at the Idu Train Terminal in the early hours of Saturday sold out tickets to passengers aboard the Abuja-Kaduna train at the rate of N12,000 and N8, 000 on Friday evening which ordinary cost about N2,000 normally.
Meanwhile, users confirmed that passengers from Lagos to Ibadan were not charged for boarding the train.
You must be logged in to post a comment Login