The Federal Government is said to be losing conservatively N350 million daily revenue as one of the impacts of the warning strike embarked by the railway workers beginning Thursday.
An inside source who gave the analysis of the strike impact in Lagos Corporate Headquarters of the Nigeria Railway Corporation, told OPTIMUM TIMES, that Lagos and Ibadan routes generates over N150 million daily while the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) route generates conservatively N200 million per day.
However, with the ongoing strike, the source maintained that the Federal government is losing such revenue as operations have been disrupted.
The source recounted that even with the ongoing strike, where its offices were deserted and operations halted, passengers still turned up at the Ebute-Meta Lagos railway station but had to be turned back by the union officials who were on hand to enforce compliance.
Reports said in Abuja, the nation’s capital, workers in Idu locked the station and displayed various placards in protest.
At the Mobolaji Johnson Train Station in Ebute-Metta in Lagos, aggrieved workers were also seen with placards, lamenting poor welfare and poor salary.
Workers of the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC), under the aegis of the Nigeria Union of Railway Workers (NUR) and Senior Staff Association, Nigerian Railway Branch, had before the commencement of the strike directed members to embark on a three-day warning strike over alleged poor welfare and standard condition of service.
They said the warning strike notice might be followed with a protracted strike action plan, if the Federal Government does not heed their demands.
In a joint meeting held in Lagos by the leadership of both unions, it was unanimously resolved that all the district organs should, as a matter of expediency, summon a general meeting of all the workers in their districts on Monday, to notify them of the commencement of the warning strike beginning from midnight of Thursday, 18 through Saturday, 20 2021.
A jointly signed communique by the President-General of NUR, Innocent Ajiji and his counterpart, President, Senior Staff Association, Nigerian Railway Branch, Aliyu Mainasara, including union secretaries, urged all workers to ensure full compliance throughout the strike period.
They urged all workers to comply and stay out of their offices, but gather together behind their district union leaders to participate actively, peacefully, and consistently throughout the thee days, without any fear or let.
The planned strike action, the unions said, was to send a warning signal to the right quarters to heed their demands for improved welfare and standard condition of service.
They argued that Nigerian railway workers receive the lowest and the poorest salaries out of all the parastatals under the Federal Ministry of Transport.
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