The Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) has reiterated the importance of e-ticketing platform in the purchasing of tickets across the country, saying it’s the way to go.
Mr Fidet Okhiria, NRC’s Managing Director, made this known in an interview on Sunday in Abuja.
”E-ticketing is the way to go. We have started and we have made significant progress in Kaduna -Abuja train service and we are also working on the Itape-Warri and Lagos-Ibadan and it is at a very advanced stage.
“I think the next stage is closing by next Monday. With the ICRC (Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission) guiding us, I think we hope to deliver that very soon; maybe by March. The e-ticketing will be introduced on the other routes except the narrow gauge.
”With the e-ticketing, interactions with people will reduce, you buy your ticket and you don’t have any reason to interact with anybody and with the ticket you can have access to the train.
”Right now in Abuja, that frequent trouble that we used to have has gone down, but being who we are, people still try to find a way not to use the electronic platform.
”They will come and meet staff and approach people who they think may have tickets to sell to them and yet they will be shouting ticket racketeering.
”So, we think the electronic platform is the way to go and we want to encourage Nigerians on that.
On security, Okhiria explained that a lot of measures had been put in place to ensure safety of lives and the train.
He said: ”We have a lot of DSS who are working un-noticed and most of the time we have information before hand and we pass it to the appropriate quarters.
“We have increased the number of people we have on the train both the Civil Defense, the Police both uniform and non-uniformed, those armed and not armed.
”You cannot guarantee everything, but we are hoping that with what have been put in place, things will be better; And we are taking security issues at the very highest level.
