Crisis brews over plan to unbundle Nigerian Railway Corporation

The plan by the Federal Government to unbundle the Nigerian Railway Corporation into four separate companies as part of its efforts to modernise the railway system may run into troubled water unless further consultations are made and the process redirected.

Already, some stakeholders including experts and railway workers’ union have faulted the process, saying proper channel is not being followed by the Federal Ministry of Transportation, which is spearheading the course of action. Indeed, there are indications that the Nigeria

President Muhammadu Buhari has reportedly set up a presidential committee to be chaired by the Minister of State for Transportation, Senator Gbemisola Saraki, with a mandate to study the process and make recommendations for the unbundling of the NRC into four separate companies namely: operations, infrastructure management, regulations and marketing.

Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, had earlier said, “I have discussed with the managing director (of the NRC) that there is the need to break Nigerian Railway Corporation into three: One that owns the assets – the tracks and is in charge of maintenance of the tracks and all railway assets and then one that operates. So, you have the Nigerian Railway Corporation that does the running of passenger trains and all that; then you have one that does marketing and all that.”

But Secretary of the Nigeria Union of Railway workers, Segun Esan, said the idea of unbundling the NRC should not be handled by the Transportation ministry, arguing that it was doomed.

Although the NUR secretary, who spoke with our correspondent on Monday via the telephone, said the union was going to meet in a few day’s time on the issue and come out an official position.

He said, “This should not be a preoccupation of the Federal Ministry of Transportation to unbundle the NRC. It is not on its schedule. They are starting on a wrong footing. The union has not deliberated on the matter yet but our position will not be different from what we had struggled against in the past.

“We will meet in the coming days on the issue and give it a thorough analysis to enable us to come out with well informed and dispassionate decision.”

When pressed further to explain what the union’s position had been on similar issues in the past, Esan said, “As much as I don’t want to preempt the union, we all know what happed to NEPA, which was unbundled into Discos and Gencos. They promised us 24 hours of uninterrupted electricity. But the current situation has been on the contrary.”

Although some stakeholders have supported the need to unbundle the NRC into specialised companies, they insisted that it is the duty of the Bureau of Public Enterprise to lead the unbundling process.

The Guardian on Sunday quoted Chief Executive Officer, Bethlehem Rail, London, Roland Ataguba, as saying only the BPE is empowered under the law to restructure public enterprises including the railway.

He said, “With the best will in the world, a patient is unlikely to perform surgery on itself successfully. It will always err on the side of least pain. This would be the second time HMT is setting up a committee “to unbundle” the NRC. The good news is that whatever they come up with has to go to the National Assembly for legislation. We will meet them there.”