Nigeria will lose at least N96 million during the three-day nationwide warning strike embarked upon by the staff of the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) under the auspices of the Nigeria Union of Railwaymen (NUR) and its sister body, Senior Staff Association for the Statutory Corporation and Government-owned Company (SC-GOC).

In an interview with FIJ on Friday, Innocent Ajiji said the federal government generates at least N32 million everyday from train services.

“It is a known fact the NRC generates a minimum of N32 million daily on all train services nationwide, but their workers earn a meager,” he explained.

FIJ also spoke with an independent top staff of the NRC for a breakdown of the government-owned corporation’s daily earnings. According to him, the passenger traffic, the most popular means of generating revenue in NRC, is the least of the three major areas of money generation.

“The bulkiest revenue is generated from the cargo transportation,” the source revealed. “Funds for the passenger traffic is the least of the three major sources. More funds are realized from the movement of containers from the Apapa port to the dry ports in Alagbado or the Omi Adio Dry Port in Ibadan, the capital of Oyo State, or elsewhere within the country.

“Each of the containers pays N10 million to carry about 15 wagons in a container, and half of it when empty containers are transported back to Apapa seaport for uploading.”

FIJ also gathered that transporting a wagon costs a minimum of N250,000 between a railway station and a dry port in any state.

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Based on the two waybills obtained from one of the major railway stations in Nigeria, transporting a wagon from the station to another terminal costs up to N276,600.

FIJ also learnt that because of the ongoing strike, one of such cargo trains from Lagos is stuck on a track in Minna, Niger State.

“Another cargo train that was supposed to be offloaded in the North has not been able to leave Apapa because of the strike,” the source said.

“The loaded train which set out on Wednesday is grounded in Minna as we speak, because the train crew, operational staff, and other signal staff that should pass it from the station to the hinterland have downed tools since Thursday midnight. 

“NRC often runs at least two of these trips two times a week, but this can not be done. APM Terminals, Inland Container Nigeria Ltd. and state governments are affected.”

Works on the 614km Ajaokuta–Kaduna–Kano (AKK) pipeline project embarked upon by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to transport natural gas from southern Nigeria to the central part of the country is also set to hit a setback over this industrial action, especially if it stretches beyond the few days intended.

From the AKK project, NRC makes N355,000 on every train trip to transport gas pipes from Warri in Delta State to Itakpe in Kogi.

Meanwhile, the leaders of the protesting staff are in a closed-door meeting with government officials from the ministry of transportation over their demands.