NRC reduces trips on Lagos-Ibadan route over diesel price hike

The Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) has reduced the number of trips on the Lagos-Ibadan train service route as the country’s economic condition continues to worsen.

Making this disclosure in an interview with The Punch Newspaper on Tuesday, NRC Managing Director, Fidet Okhiria, disclosed that the corporation cut down the number of trips on Lagos-Ibadan route to cushion the effect of the incessant hike in the pump prices of diesel.

He said the corporation brought down the number of return trips on the route from six to two daily.

“The Lagos-Ibadan train service is running, but we have reduced the number of trips on that route because of the diesel problem. We reduced the number of trips we are running because of the hike in diesel price,” Okhiria said.

“We are now doing two return trips as against six, which by now should have gone to 10. So we run just two trips now due to the diesel problem,” he added.

The train service chief lamented that the trip reduction was the only way for the NRC to cope with the increase in diesel prices, claiming that it was beyond the NRC’s authority to raise train fares despite rising operating costs.

He did, however, state that the corporation had sent recommendations to the federal ministry of transportation for a train fare adjustment.

“We just can’t increase it by ourselves. The government has to do that. We have made some recommendations. But even with the recommendations we made, the new price of diesel has overshot our workings as contained in the recommendations.

“However, we don’t want to price ourselves out of the market too, because the price of petrol is not increasing as such, rather the increase is little when compared to diesel price. And you know we are competing with transporters on roads,” Mr  Okhiria noted.

The development comes as both private and public organisations continue to take drastic measures to survive the country’s increasingly harsh economic situation, which has been exacerbated by the increase in diesel pump prices and the incessant National grid failures.

In March, Peoples Gazette reported that the pump price of diesel hit a record high of N800 per litre, with the new price showing a significant increase from the N225 per litre sold in January 2021.

Mostly used by large and medium sized businesses to run their daily operations, the price of diesel, which is largely unregulated, has surged by over 113% in the last 14 months.

Recall that Guaranty Trust Bank in March  reduced its operation closing hour from 5:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. over the incessant increase in pump price of diesel.

Also in March, First Bank of Nigeria reduced operation hours at most of  its branches nationwide.