The Federal Government has urged striking railways workers to return to their duty posts and assured them that their reasons for the strike action are being looked into.
This was disclosed by the Managing Director, Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC), Mr Fidet Okhiria, in a press briefing on Friday, in Lagos.
He also assured that the FG is putting way more effort into rail transport compared to previous administrations.
What he said
“We can see the attention railway is getting now compared to six years ago; the attention is there because the government is putting more efforts in ensuring that railway is viable in Nigeria.
“We will work in ensuring that the workers get a better salary, the process is ongoing and we are keeping them abreast on a quarterly basis but not everyone understands the process,” Okhiria said.
He added that the union workers had the right to demand better welfare, stating that the NRC expected a positive response from National Salaries, Income and Wages Commission.
The Deputy President General, Nigerian Union of Railway Workers, Mr Rufus Afolayan, said that the union had resolved to continue the three-day warning strike.
“After Saturday which is going to be the third day of the strike, we don’t know what will happen next.
“We have been having meetings with some government agencies comprising of the management of Nigerian Railway Corporation and the Ministry of Transportation in Abuja on way forward.
“If our demands have not been fulfilled, we will continue with the strike. We had met with the Minister of Transportation last week in Lagos and nothing good had come out of our discussion.
”We requested for better enhancement of salary; for example, all the locomotive are been insured and non of the train pilots was insured by the management,” he said.
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The rail transportation sector grew by 59.93% year-on-year in real terms in Q3 2021, representing the fastest growing sector in the review period, closely followed by metal ores, which is a component of the mining and quarrying sector with 54.92% growth rate.
