NRC Debunks Sale of Tickets Online

NRC Debunks Sale of Tickets Online

By Kasim Sumaina in Abuja

The Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) has debunked the ‘fake news’ making the rounds on the social media that it had commenced the sale of online ticketing for Abuja-Kaduna rail line.

The Managing Director (NRC), Mr. Fidet Okhiria, while disclosing this to newsmen in Abuja Friday, stated that selling tickets online was not true, adding that he had been making efforts to let people know that the corporation has not begun such move.

According to him, “There is a website circulating on social media for passengers to purchase tickets online, it’s a fraudulent site and Nigerians should desist from such site.

“The news of sales of online ticketing is a fraudulent one and we don’t have such website and when we do, we will tell people.

“So, I will appeal to passengers that they should not patronise a site for ticketing issues. We still sell our tickets in hard copy at the stations.”

Okhiria revealed that the process of e-ticketing was ongoing and that it was going to be under Public Private Partnership (PPP) which has to go through due process.

He noted that by the first quarter of 2019, all the processes should be over and the automated tickets would commence.

“We have gone very far, we want to partner with private companies so that there will be reliability. It is presently with ICRC so that all due process will be met and I hope by first quarter of 2019, we would have finished the processes,” he said.

He further said: “We are trying to do PPP arrangements. There are some infrastructure that need to be put in place so that the stations can have one entry in and one entrance out.

“It is only then that e-ticketing can make sense, not when all the stations are porous. There have to be a control exit point which will have to go through ICRC.

“We require the process to be very secured, so that nobody can hack into it and do ugly things. So we have not started and Nigerians should know that we have not started the e-ticketing.”

Similarly, the Manager, Abuja-Kaduna Train Service, Mr. Paschal Nnorli, appealed to passengers to desist from fake messages requesting passengers to buy and reserve tickets online.

According to him, “The general public especially our esteem passengers on Abuja – Kaduna Train Service (AKTS) are please advised not to patronise any of such calls as they did not emanate from NRC.

“For clarity sake, NRC train tickets for now are obtainable in hard copy only from designated railway stations.

“Prospective passengers are therefore advised to buy their tickets only from NRC designated ticket offices and not through any other means.”

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