The House of Representatives on Wednesday expressed worry over what it decried as low revenue from the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC).
This was as the Office of the Accountant General for the Federation said the NRC remitted only N345 million in revenue for 2023, adding that the remittances covered January to September.
The observations were made when the Managing Director of the NRC, Fidet Okhiria, appeared before the House of Representatives Committee on Finance on Wednesday at the 2024–2026 Medium-Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper (MTEF/FSP) interactive session in Abuja.
Answering questions from the James Faleke-led committee, Okhiria admitted that there was ticket racketeering by staff in the NRC, leading to loss of revenue.
He said the culprits had been sacked while those involved in lesser offences were demoted.
Addressing the NRC MD, Faleke had said: “Social media clips show how your staffers are engaging in ticket racketeering”.
In response, Okhiria said, “This is true, and the solution to that is e-ticketing, and the government has approved that”.
He said the corporation was working with the security agencies to arrest the menace.
Faleke expressed worry about the revenue generated, adding that “our concern is that if we expect so much revenue from NRC and we aren’t getting it, then there is a problem.
“I think we should take the decision that the railway should self-fund and take care of their costs and remit to the government the surplus”, he said.
