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THE Minister of Transportation, Mu’azu Sambo, has called for the unbundling of the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) in line with the vision and objectives of government’s current reforms in the sector.
Sambo made the call in a statement by Henshaw Ogubike, Director, Press and Public Relations of the Ministry, on Thursday, in Abuja.
Ogubike said that the minister, while addressing the management team of the Ministry of Finance Incorporated (MOFI), on a courtesy visit to him urged them to make NRC unbundling economically viable, while offering world class services to Nigerians.
According to him, the NRC cannot operate optimally, thus necessary reforms and unbundling have become imperative.
“One of the things I will like to see as the Minister of Transportation, through MOFI is the unbundling of the NRC.
“There is a committee set up to unbundle NRC and I will urge you to work with the existing committee,” he said.
The minister who allayed the fear of job loss as a result of the unbundling urged the NRC members of staff not to see the unbundling of the NRC as a threat to their jobs.
“If we have a better performing NRC, then we are going to have better salaries and working condition for its workers, more revenue for the federal government and therefore, the ability to even build more rail networks.
Sambo further said that the issue of encroachment on railway property would soon be a thing of the past.
He said that MOFI was berthed for a specific reason, adding that the reason was for the federal government to take control of its assets and create optimum value for the assets.
In his contributing, the Minister of State for Transportation, Prince Ademola Adegoroye, said that he had full confidence that the MOFI team would deliver on their job.
Also speaking, the Permanent Secretary, Dr. Magdalene Ajani, noted that the MOFI team being made up of young and intelligent people had satisfied the yearning of Nigerians to have young people in positions of responsibility.
She assured the MOFI team of the cooperation of the ministry in their assignment.
Earlier, the Chief Executive Officer, MOFI, Dr Armstrong Katang, said that the visit was to discuss how to create a more effective and efficient partnership between MOFI and the Ministry.
Katang, said that the areas that have been identified for collaboration with the ministry included enumerating and valuing the NRC to ensure that its value was captured in line with the current realities.
Other areas, he said, included enumerating and capturing other critical assets within the ministry especially its infrastructure assets.
“And establishing a task force with representation from the Ministry of Transportation and Ministry of Finance with clear terms of reference to help with the identified assignments.
The MOFI was incorporated under the provisions of Sections 2 and 3 of the Ministry of Finance Incorporated Act of 1959 as an asset holding company under the Federal Ministry of Finance.
NAN reports that MOFI is the sole manager of all Federal Government investment interests, estates, easement and rights.(NAN)
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