NRC suspends rail services for polls

Nigerian Railway Corporation announced on Tuesday that rail services would be suspended from Saturday, February 25 to Monday, February 27.

NRC’s spokesman, Mr Mahmood Yakubu, stated that the suspension was to enable Nigerians to exercise their franchise at the presidential and National Assembly elections of February 25.

Train services to be put on hold are Abuja-Kaduna, Warri-Itakpe, Lagos-Ibadan and Iddo, Lagos-Ijoko interstate mass transit service.

Yakubu stated that train services would resume on Tuesday, February 28.

Meanwhile, the Minister of Transportation, Mu’azu Sambo has called for the unbundling of the Nigerian Railway Corporation in line with the vision and objectives of the government’s current reforms in the transportation sector.

According to the minister, presently the NRC cannot operate optimally, stating that necessary reforms and unbundling have become imperative.

In a statement by the Director of Press and Public Relations, Henshaw Ogubike, the minister disclosed this while addressing the management team of the Ministry of Finance Incorporated, led on a visit to him by the CEO, Dr Armstrong Takang.

The minister, however, charged MOFI to drive the unbundling of the NRC to make it more economically viable while offering world-class services to Nigerians.

“One of the things I will like to see as the Minister of Transportation, through MOFI is the unbundling of the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC). There is a Committee set up to unbundle NRC and I will urge you to work with the existing Committee,” he said.

Speaking further, Sambo also made reference to the reforms implemented in the ports and the benefits these have brought, noting that such should be carried out in the railway sector.

He said “The Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC), the way it is currently, is the way the ports were prior to concession, prior to the reforms of 2005. Today, even the Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA) workers are happier about how NPA is today compared to how it was prior to the reforms. This means the reformed NPA is generating more revenues to support its operations and also support its workforce and its pensioners”.

The minister who assuaged the fear of job loss as a result of the unbundling said, “ I don’t want the NRC staff to see the unbundling of the NRC as a threat to their jobs. If we have a better-performing NRC, then we are going to have better salaries for its workers, better working conditions for its workers, more revenue for the FG and therefore the ability to even build more rail networks.

Sambo pointed out that the issue of encroachment on railway property will soon be a thing of the past, adding that MOFI was berthed for a specific reason and that reason is for the Federal Government to take control of its assets and create optimum value for these assets.

In his contribution, the Minister of State for Transportation, Ademola Adegoroye, extolled the capabilities of the Managing Director of MOFI, Dr Armstrong, saying he has full confidence that the MOFI team will deliver on the job.