Commuters patronising the Lagos-Ibadan train service operated by the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) have condemned the corporation for insisted on cash payments for tickets in the face of cash crunch in the country.
Speaking with Transport Day, some of the commuters wondered by the NRC, being a government agency, should insist on cash payment, knowing fully well that there is scarcity of cash in the country.
According to the passengers, they are forced to make use of the POS operators stationed at the railway stations, who charge as high as N1500 to get N5000.
They wonder why the NRC management is encouraging this, even in the face of the recent Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) warning that POS operators charging above N200 for N10,000 should be arrested and prosecuted.
The Director, Governor’s Department (CBN), Joseph Omayuku, had stated recently that “The operational arrangement for payment agents is that they take a commission for transactions and this commission is not more than N100 or N200 for transactions of up to N10,000. But we have heard of cases where people are being charged N1,000 or N2,000.This is certainly fraudulent; this is a rogue operation. So, the security agencies will be very active this week, going forward.”
Why Not Online Payment?
One year and 8 months after President Muhammadu Buhari commissioned the Lagos-Ibadan standard gauge service, why is the NRC still insisting on cash payment for ticketing?
Dependable sources reveal to Transport Day that the NRC is relaying on its parent ministry-the Ministry of Transport to sign a Memorandum of understanding with an Online payment company.
According to the sources, though the deal ought to have been sealed while the former Minister of Transport, Rotimi Amaechi, was in office, it got stalemated due to unknown reasons.
However, the Abuja-Kaduna standard gauge train service, which was also commissioned by President Muhammadu Buhari shortly after assuming office, operates on online ticketing.
The Lagos-Ibadan train passengers called on the NRC management to quickly device an interim online payment system in order to ameliorate the sufferings of passengers on that route.
Efforts made to speak with the NRC management on this did not yield results.
