Authors Tolu ogunlesi

7 days 30 days All time Recent Popular
tolu ogunlesi
tolu ogunlesi
@toluogunlesi
So that’s how I went to Idu Station yesterday to see the new Automated Fare Collection system at work. Told that 85% of tickets bought for the 7am to KD were bought online. People are abandoning their initial skepticism and starting to trust the system more. Here’s what’s changed


Anyone familiar with rail travel between Kaduna and Abuja in the last few years is fully aware of just how stressful getting tickets can be. People showing up several hours ahead and not even sure they’ll get a ticket. A whole industry of touting arose to fill the gap. Naturally.

In Dec 2020, NRC finally launched its Automated Fare Collection (AFC) System, for the Abuja-Kaduna Line. The contract (I’ve talked about this in a previous thread) covers among other things Speedstiles, Validators and Ticket Vending machines at all the Stations. Rollout ongoing.


A couple of things to note:

You either buy on web or download an App (Android / iPhone)

You have to create a profile to log-in. So all tickets linked to profiles

For now you can only buy a day in advance - i.e. tickets for today or tomorrow. Will eventually expand that window

Here’s what happens when you have an invalid ticket ie a used or expired ticket. Also if you buy a ticket to Station 3, get on train and then travel past Station 3 and come off at Station 5, the system will not allow you to exit the station. You’ll have to pay penalty fare.
WORLD
tolu ogunlesi
tolu ogunlesi
@toluogunlesi
Heartwarming news of the successful separation of conjoined female twins at the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital (UITH), yesterday.

Can anyone pls confirm that these photos circulating on social media are from that surgery?


Part of why this is even more exciting is that the 1st time UITH attempted a separation of conjoined twins, fifteen years ago, the babies sadly died, after 14 hours. So it’s really gladdening to see that UITH haven’t given up, and that the ‘class of 2020’ are alive & doing well.
WORLD
tolu ogunlesi
tolu ogunlesi
@toluogunlesi
There’s a recurring misunderstanding/misinterpretation of public procurement numbers/costs, that does no one any good. If there’s going to be a debate let it at least be based on facts/reality not conjecture, not knee-jerk responses.

Another #thread 🙃

A few days ago I complained about a bad piece by @GuardianNigeria, in which they were busied themselves dividing distance by cost and then proceeding to make wild comparisons between rail projects. While also getting cost wrong in some cases.


The nuances of procurement, whether public or private sector, can hardly be accurately conveyed in your typical news headline, especially when headlines are driven mostly by virality ambitions. Always good to try and understand full picture before jumping to conclusions.

Important point: It’s very necessary for citizens to be able to assess public procurement projects for transparency & cost-efficiency. So I’m not saying don’t ask questions. Far from it. I’m simply saying all assessments MUST be based on a full picture, not headlines / conjecture

Take example of Super Tucanos. You’d read somewhere that Nigeria signed an almost $600m deal with the US Govt for 12 aircraft. Guess what our papers will do 😂

They’ll do their typical ‘dividing’ and say Nigeria paid $50m per aircraft. (The plane is not that expensive btw).
FINANCE