By Afolabi Oyekunle.
Railway workers are back to work, as they called off their 3-day warning strike which lasted 2 days making the Nigerian Railway Corporation to loose millions in revenue.
A communique issued after series of meetings in Abuja and Lagos between the leadership of Nigerian Union of Railway Workers leaders and NRC board members, NRC management and Federal Ministry of Transportation Officials agreed that an enhanced salary regime had been taken up as a priority by the NRC board and Federal Ministry of Transportation with a view to secure approval for implementation very soon.
It was agreed that the timeline should not exceed 31st January 2022. Towards the safety of the train crews, it was agreed that henceforth all the crews will be given insurance cover as well as the passengers and goods in transist.
The Communique also addressed the issue of deceased staff, as it was agreed that the personal data of deceased workers should be collected towards addressing their emoluments.
The workers had embarked on the warning strike action to press for demands for salary enhancement, emoluments, and better welfare .
While addressing newsmen in Lagos on Friday, the Managing Director of Nigerian Railway Corporation, Engineer Fidet Okhiria has pledged that the Management are on top of the situation to see that the workers are better remunerated.
According to him, ” We will work in ensuring that the workers get better salary, the process is on going and we are keeping it as a priority.”
Engineer Okhiria addressing newsmen
Engineer Okhiria urged the workers to hope for better welfare, saying the workers had the right to express their grievances.
He however called on the workers not to jeopardise the progress being made in the sector. ” We can see the attention railway is getting now compared to six years ago, the attention is there because government is putting more efforts in ensuring that railway is viable in Nigeria”.
The Nigerian Union of Railway workers while welcoming the new development said the calling of the strike should not be a time buying for government.
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