Train services have been shut down across the country as the three-day warning strike embarked upon by railway workers nationwide begins.
The workers demand increased salary and better welfare package during a protest at Idu Station in Abuja on Thursday.
The workers were seen gathered at the train station armed with placards with different inscriptions which include “Good salary gives better results, bad salary kills morale.” Abuja Train Attack, a terrorists Attack say it as it is MD NRC.”
The Nigerian Railway Corporation had earlier ordered the suspension of train services between Abuja and Kaduna, Lagos and Ibadan, and Warri due to a strike.
The district managers were directed to be prepared to shut down train stations plying Abuja-Kaduna, Lagos-Ibadan and Warri-Itakpe routes in the event that workers down tools.
Managing Director of NRC, Fidet Okhiria, in an internal memo on Tuesday alerted all district managers and key personnel about the necessity to preserve railway assets if the strike goes forward.
The warning strike that was declared to demand increased wages and condition of service by workers of the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) is to hold from November 18th to November 20th.
The Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi had invited the labour unions to a meeting on Saturday but it ended in a deadlock. And another follow-up meeting by the Board and Management of the NRC could not change the decision of the unions on the strike.
General Secretary of the Nigerian Union of Railway Workers (NUR), Comrade Segun Esan, in a chat with journalists Tuesday night said the mobilisation for the warning strike had been massive.
He added that there was no going back.
“The strike starts on midnight of this Wednesday prior to the dawn of Thursday 18/11/2021. The mobilisation for the strike is unprecedented and the entire NRC workers are top gear for the warning strike,” he noted.
