The Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) said the reason it decided to increase train rates was because of increased energy bills, especially diesel which was needed to operate the trains.
This was disclosed by Mr Fidet Okhiria, NRC’s Managing Director, during an interview on Saturday in Abuja.
His explanation came ahead of the scheduled service resumption on the Abuja-Kaduna rail system which was paused after terrorists attacked it in March.
The NRC boss noted the price increase would be implemented with great consideration to the interest of Nigerians and other commuters at heart as the service cannot be halted because of high diesel cost. He said:
“It is better to have it operating than not operating. It is the service we are providing but in order to provide it, everybody has to make some sacrifices.
“The major cost should be the cost of diesel. Because we require diesel to operate the trains. The cost of diesel has gone up by more than three times and it is costing us to mount human and material security that it requires to keep the trains operating.
“We need to service the infrastructure we put in place for the additional security we secured and the additional personnel that will be going up and down to assist; they need some incentives. So I think that Nigerians should bear with us. We are still working on the best way out.”
The Nigerian Government had earlier stated that as part of measures to ensure the security of commuters, Nigerians won’t be able to use the Abuja–Kaduna Train service without their National Identification Number. (Nairametrics)
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