NRC to punish erring staff bent on tarnishing its image

The Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) has promised to punish erring members of staff who are bent on tarnishing the image of the state-owned enterprise.

NRC issued this threat on Tuesday via a statement on X (formerly Twitter) following a complaint lodged by Daramola E. Adenike (@Dara4Enjoyment) about its official.

“On my way to Lagos from Ibadan after a weekend getaway with my friends today, October 2, 2023, some NRC employees lured us to board the train without tickets,” Adenike posted.

“Initially, they acted like they were taking us to the ticket counter only for them to lead us to the Railway without official ticket. They collected cash on transit.

“We arrived at the Train Station around 03:40pm. While we were walking to the entrance of Obafemi Awolowo Train Station Ibadan, a uniformed NRC official approached us.

“Oh, the story did not end there! When we got to Funmilayo Kuti Station in Abeokuta, people boarded the train but guess what? They sold Coach 7 tickets to them without assigned seat!.

“These people got onboard and no seat. It was so embarrassing. I had to let a lady share with me,” she wrote.

She added that the uniformed NRC official asked if they had the tickets and she told him they were on their way to get tickets. He then asked how many they were and she told him that they were five (5).

According to her, he told them to follow him after which they were confident that they could trust him because he was wearing a uniform and identified as a staff.

Adenike said she and her friends followed him thinking he was leading them to the ticket counter only for them to pass through screening and head towards the Railway.

She said she immediately told him that they did not have have tickets to board the train but he said she shouldn’t worry that it would be sorted.

“He handed me over to another uniformed staff who led us to Coach 7. I told the lady the same thing that we do not have tickets and she said she was aware and it would be sorted,” Adenike explained.

“I was so uncomfortable and unsettled, so I asked two other persons if they had tickets. I discovered every single person onboard coach 7 had no ticket and were lured in the same way.

“At this time, I realized what was happening and became more uncomfortable. I was about to step out to look for the ticket counter when I saw that the time. It was 3:55pm.

“While pacing and looking for a staff, I saw new people come into the train and I approached one of them. I asked him if he had a ticket and he said yes. I asked him when he got the ticket and he replied, “Just now”.

“This ruled out my assumption that we were too late. I saw the uniformed staff that led us into the train and asked him about the tickets.

“His response was that we are a group of 5 so if we go to the counter to purchase the tickets, we would not be able to sit together.

“I was shocked. He couldn’t even make something believable up. I went back to my seat. I still had my money with me so I would wait and see what happened next.

“Few minutes after the train started moving, they started collecting cash from people on Coach 7. I paid N18,000 cash for 5 persons. Over 60 persons paid N3600 each without tickets,” Adenike said.

The Nigerian Railway Corporation thanked Adenike for the feedback and the video evidence while promising that investigation will be conducted and all the staff involved will face disciplinary action.

NRC also said it will continue to go after the erring staff who are bent on tarnishing the image of the corporation while it also urged members of the public to report them and they will take such cases up.