Unbundling railway will not lead to job losses – Minister

The Minister of Transportation, Alh. Mu’azu Jaji Sambo, has assured staff of the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) that there will be no job losses when the NRC is finally unbundled into different entities.

Recall that the federal government had over two years ago announced it would unbundle the NRC into several companies comprising a regulatory agency, a service provider and other entities.

It also set up a committee to work out modalities for the unbundling but the committee hasn’t submitted any public report.

The minister reiterated that as it is presently constituted, the NRC cannot operate optimally, thus necessary reforms and unbundling have become imperative. 

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The minister who was addressing the management team of the Ministry of Finance Incorporated (MOFI) in Abuja, led on a visit to him by the CEO, Dr Armstrong Katang, charged MOFI to drive the unbundling of the NRC to make it more economically viable while offering world-class services to Nigerians. 

The minister assuaged the fear of job loss due to the unbundling saying, “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. 

“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 committee,”  he said. 

The minister made reference to the reforms implemented in the ports and the benefits they have brought, noting that such should be carried out in the railway sector. 

Speaking earlier, the Chief Executive Officer, MOFI, Dr Armstrong Katang, said the visit was to discuss how to create a more effective and efficient partnership between MOFI and the Ministry of Transportation.