Itakpe–Ajaokuta train passengers stage protest over hike in fares
Story from Rabi’atu, Lokoja
Passengers at the Itapke-Ajaokuta train station of the Nigerian Railway Corporation staged a protest on Friday over the outrageous hike in fares by the operators.
The passengers in their numbers were seen lamenting that the management and staff of the train station aside from hoarding the tickets, unilaterally increased the fares.
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Neptune Prime reports that as of Thursday, passengers travelling to Delta State were made to pay three thousand naira but to the surprise of the passengers Friday morning, the fare was increased to five hundred naira by the operators.
The operators according to the passengers who spoke with journalists said they got to the train station only to be told that there were no available tickets.
But upon mounting pressures and seeing the desperation of the passengers, the operators offered the tickets to passengers at the cost of N5,500 for a journey that was a little above N2700 in the past.
According to Sunday James and Ukpewe Ogienebiko, prospective passengers to Warri, who paid the N5,500 lamented that such malpractices by the operators must be stopped so as not to erode the plans by President Mohammadu Buhari in making train transportation an alternative means of transport.
The operators of the train station who could not give any reason for the increment, turned deaf ears to the questions of the passengers, insisting that they were acting on instructions.
All efforts by reporters to speak with the head of the Itapke train station or those connected with the sales of the ticket on why the sudden rise in fares proved abortive as they said they were told not to speak with journalists.
As of press time, many of the passengers were left stranded with some passengers seen returning to their homes while others travelled by other means to their destination.
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