Workers kick against privitisation of Nigerian railway

Railway workers have warned the Federal Government against the privatisation of the nation’s railway system.

The employees spoke through the President of the Nigerian Union of Railway Workers, Mr. Raphael Okoro, saying the privatisation could spell doom for the industry and worsen the nation’s economy.

A statement by the NUR’s Assistant Secretary General, General Duties, Mr. Segun Esan, obtained on Friday, quoted Okoro as saying this at the 21st edition of the union’s National Executive Council held in Lagos.

He urged government to draw a lesson for the experiences of the United Kingdom and New Zealand, where similar privatisation exercise almost killed the railway operation.

The Federal Government has operated the railway transport mode exclusively based on the provisions of the Railway Act 1955.

There are plans to review the Railway Act with a view to allowing state governments and private investors run the railway services across the country after the current rehabilitation exercise.

Okoro said it became necessary to advise the government as all indications had confirmed that it was going in the direction of selling the rail transport sub-sector to private owners.

He said, “The Federal Government should learn from the British experience where the nation’s railway assets were blatantly sold off and most regrettable was the disastrous privatisation of London Underground which exploded into the collapse of the Metronet.

“Another lesson should be drawn from New Zealand railway, whose privatisation predated the Britain’s by half a decade. New Zealand has refrained from further privatisation on the realisation by the government that privatisation cannot deliver the massive investment needed in its infrastructure. Spain is a typical example of high-speed rail transport that developed astronomically and steadily while remaining public despite the European Union’s cruel pressure to privatise and liberalise it.”

Okoro also spoke on the dwindling fortunes of the rail transport industry, stressing that only a sustainable integrated transport policy remained the answer to the development of the system.

He lamented that all the various modes of transportation in Nigeria still existed in non-coordinate pattern that made each mode operationally independent of the other.

“In a country of over 150 million people spread over a land space of 928,768 square kilometres, it is unbelievable that no airport is connected by rail and just only one seaport is connected out of about five seaports in the country. Added to this poor transport situation that has been with us all through 50 years of our nationhood, each mode is replete with diverse constraints and limitations,” he said.

The NUR president explained that the choice of the theme of this year’s conference was informed by the conviction that only properly coordinated transport system could move the nation’s economy forward.

Okoro said railway policy must be part of a long-term transport plan which in itself would form part of an overall economic and environmental strategy designed to lift up the living standards; scale up manufacturing and rescue public services.

“Nigerian government must see the wisdom in investing in the railway so as to achieve an enhanced capacity that will attract optimal market share to the rail mode with a fare regime set at a level that will encourage people to leave their cars and short-haul flights that usually end in crashes. Public ownership and democratic accountability are inseparable twins that make wider social and economic change happen,” Okoro said.

He also enjoined the management of NRC to ensure the on-going rehabilitation in the sub-sector was adequately monitored and supervised in order to make sure that contractors deliver to specification.

The outgoing Secretary General of the NUR, Mr. Martins Akinyanju, and the former Assistant Director of Industrial Relations and Welfare of Nigerian Railway, Mr. Joseph Elueze were given awards in recognition of their contribution to the development of the union.

[Punch]

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3 Comments

1. 

   Arnold

   December 30, 2013 at 5:06 pm

   Mr okoro,u are talking rubbish d government should sell d railway,so u all will take ur job serious.
2. 

   Śliczny Mo

   December 30, 2013 at 6:17 pm

   Mr Okoro you have no experience! Before naming UK and Newzealand Mr okoro should open his selfish eyes to see poorer countries in eastern europe like Poland where the standard rail system is running efficiently and generating massive revenue, world class rail stations have been built not to mention the enviable ultra modern warsaw metro line. all these have been achieved in Poland through PRIVATISATION. Laziness of the Nigerian civil servant is a killing the economy. government should waste no time in shedding these unnecessary burdens by selling them off
3. 

   AkeemQuadri

   December 30, 2013 at 8:49 pm

   Once the present government have runs rail services for sometimes now it is good time to think of privatisation for effectiveness and efficiency.