The unbundling of the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) is an imperative as it aligns with the vision and objectives of the government’s current reforms in the transportation sector, the Minister of Transportation, Mu’azu Jaji Sambo, has said.
The Minister who spoke while receiving the management team of the Ministry of Finance Incorporated (MOFI) who visited him in his office in Abuja said unbundling of the NRC would make it more economically viable while offering world class services to Nigerians.
The Minister said as it is presently constituted, the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) cannot operate optimally, thus necessary reforms and unbundling have become imperative.
“One of the things I would like to see as the Minister of Transportation through MOFI is the unbundling of the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC),” the Minister told the MOFI team led by its Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Dr. Armstrong Takang.
To facilitate the process of unbundling the NRC, the Minister announced that the government has already constituted a Committee to handle the exercise, adding that he looked forward to MOFI, the primary assets holding company vested with the responsibility of managing all federal government investments interests, to work with it to realise that objective.
The Minister made reference to the reforms in the country’s ports, which he noted resulted in numerous benefits to the economy, noting that unbundling the railway sector could bring similar advantages to the people.
“The way the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) is currently structured is how the country’s ports were prior to its concessioning and reforms of 2005.
“Today, even the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) workers are happier about how the agency is today, compared to how it was prior to the reforms. This means the reforms in NPA are generating more revenues to support its operations and also support its workforce and its pensioners,” the Minister said.
Allaying fears about possible job losses as a result of the unbundling process, the Minister urged the NRC staff not to see the exercise as a threat to their jobs security.
He said if with a better performing NRC, the workers would have better salary packages and improved working conditions, more revenue for the government and therefore the ability to even build more rail networks across the country to serve more people.
On the issue of encroachment on railway property, Sambo said the problem would soon be a thing of the past as the government reactivated MOFI with a specific reason for it to go take control of its assets and create optimum value from them for the benefit of all Nigerians.
In his remarks, the Minister of State for Transportation, Ademola Adegoroye, extolled the capabilities of the management team of MOFI led by Dr. Armstrong, saying he was confident that the team would deliver on the assignment.
Also speaking, the Permanent Secretary, Dr. Magdalene Ajani, said the MOFI team was made up of young and intelligent people who would work to satisfy the yearning of all Nigerians.
She assured the MOFI team of the cooperation of the Ministry in their assignment to ensure they delivered on its mandate.
Earlier, the CEO of MOFI, Dr. Takang told the Minister that the visit was to explore ways to create a more effective and efficient partnership between MOFI and the Ministry of Transportation to help realise the aspirations of the government.
Takang said the areas that have been identified for collaboration with the Ministry of Transportation included enumerating and valuing the Nigerian Railway Corporation to ensure that its value was captured in line with the current realities.
Other areas of partnership, the MOFI Chief said, included enumerating and capturing other critical assets within the Ministry, especially its infrastructure assets and establishing a task force with representation from the Ministries of Transportation and of Finance, with clear terms of reverence to help with the identified assignments.
