The free train ride services of the Federal Government, which commenced on December 21, 2023, has ended on Sunday (yesterday) with many Nigerians lamenting over their inability to benefit.
Checks by the Nigerian Tribune revealed that while the free train ride lasted, many of the passenger trains left and arrived their destinations with empty seats even when tickets for such trips had been fully sold out.
For many intending passengers, their inability to book online was down to the fact that there was no ticket available on the cyber space because the tickets have all been allegedly fully booked.
To further compound the woes of these set of passengers, the refusal of the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) to sell tickets at the train stations made life unbearable for them as many watched trains leave and arrive different train stations without being able to board because they had no tickets for such trips.
Disclosing her experience on X (formerly twitter), an intending passenger wrote, “I was filled with happiness and gratitude to the Federal Government when it was announced that train trips would be free of charge during this festive period. I was already thinking about how I would take my family of six to my town in Oyo for Christmas and new year.
“My earlier arrangement was banked on the Federal Government’s promised wage awards of N35,000, but even normal salary was not paid let alone the wage awards. We were paid only once for the month of September and I don’t know when others would be paid or if it would be paid at all. You can imagine how happy I was to get my family to Ibadan without paying for it!
“I tried to book tickets online but it was fully booked. We postponed the journey and the following day, it was fully booked again. Then, we woke up early in the morning the following day and got to the train station before dawn. We hoped to book tickets at the station but they told me it was fully booked again.
“As I stood perplexed, an official told me he could help me get the tickets if I was willing to pay a token. I asked how would it be possible when the seats were totally booked? He replied that he knew someone who had already booked but is no more travelling. Then I understood!
“Some staff of the NRC who were privy to the time the booking portal would be available would have booked all available spaces with the intention of selling the tickets to desperate travellers like myself. In that way, they would make some money and the acclaimed free trip wouldn’t be free but fares reduced. I left disappointed.”
In the words of another train passenger, Modinat Ibrahim, “I was traveling back from Ibadan to Lagos with my kids on January 1, I would resume to work the following day so I tried booking the free train seats. It was fully booked! Then someone told me there were three seats left for Ibadan to Abeokuta, so I booked the seats with the intention of alighting in Abeokuta and continue my journey by commercial buses. However, I noticed that most of the seats were empty, so I decided not to alight in Abeokuta but continue the journey. “After Papa Lantoro, I noticed that the seats were still empty. In fact, the whole lots of us who were passengers in the train could not fill up only two coaches. The rest seats of six coaches were empty. Having realised what happened, I decided to take these pictures!”
When Nigerian Tribune contacted the Managing Director of the NRC, Fidet Okhiria on why there are no ticket sales at the train stations during the free train period, the NRC boss replied that, “We deliberately cancelled ticket sales at the train stations during the free ticket period because we don’t want to have chaotic scenes at our stations.
“Because the service is free, if we had sold tickets at the train stations, we would have had people throng the stations in large numbers, leading to chaotic scenes at our train stations. So, to avoid such situation, we cancelled ticket sales at the train stations during the free train period and asked everybody to book online.”
On why trains left their destinations with empty seats even when tickets were fully sold out for such trips, the NRC boss explained that, “You know we don’t control ticket sales onboard our trains. It was outsourced to a third party. The ticket sales for our trains have been concessioned to a company, so the NRC is not in charge.
“However, we have been able to identify that some “insiders” bought multiple tickets online with the intent of re-selling to passengers at the train stations. When I say insiders, I mean workers of either the NRC or our partner, the China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC).
“We are still investigating and will address the media once we are done. Some insiders have been found to have bought up to 20 tickets online. Why they bought multiple tickets is still not clear to us but we are investigating. That’s why many of the free train ride left their destinations half-filled with passengers even when tickets for such trips have been fully sold out,” he said.
When contacted, an official of the CCECC, Austin Mao, promised to get back to the Nigerian Tribune on the matter.
However, he was yet to get back to as at the time of filing in this report.
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