N567m required to hire 1,000 workers for Lagos-Ibadan rail operations – NRC MD

The Lagos-Ibadan rail line will employ 1,000 additional workers at a cost of N567.45m per annum, Managing Director, Nigerian Railway Corporation, Mr Fidet Okhiria, has said.

He disclosed this in Lagos when members of the National Assembly Joint Committee on Transportation visited the Ebute Meta headquarters of the NRC.

He said the current personnel strength of the corporation was 10,672 with current personnel cost of N9.14bn for 2021.

Okhiria added, “On corporation’s revenue generation since 2020, NRC has remitted N1.13bn to the Federal Government approved dedication TSA Account domiciled with the CBN.”

During the visit, it was found that the signal and communication system of the new rail line was not operational yet.

The Project Liaison Officer of China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation, Mr Yakubu Adogie, said the company was already working to surmount the challenge before the first quarter of 2022.

In a statement by the NRC, the CCECC liaison officer also said the company was working on the plumbing, power supply, and telecommunications of other stations within the new Lagos-Ibadan railway corridor.

Adogie added that despite the intervention of the Minister of Transportation, Mr Rotimi Amaechi, in July and payment of compensation, the Nigeria Customs Service log room building had not been demolished to give way for the construction of the other two lines to connect Apapa port.

The Project Manager of TEAM Construction Company Nig. Ltd, Leonardo Portanova, also spoke on the overhead bridges and crossings in the Lagos end of the rail line.

According to him, the Lagos State Government is constructing seven overhead bridges while TEAM would build six overhead crossings.

The Chairman, House Committee on Transportation, Abdulfatai Buhari, also said the House was ready to support the NRC with necessary legislative framework to ensure effective rail transport and boost inter-regional business in the country.

He said, “You are all aware that the joint committee is carrying out its statutory constitutional responsibilities to ascertain the level of work done.

“We are here to oversee how funds appropriated in the past fiscal years were expended and how much is needed for the smooth running of the corporation against the next budgetary allocation.”

The Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Transportation, Abbas Tajudeen, asked contractors working on the projects to open a good channel of communication with the committee.

Punch