Finance ministry tasked on Nigeria Railway unbundling

The Federal government has tasked the Ministry of Finance Incorporation ((MOFI) to expedite action on the unbundling of the Nigeria Railway Cooperation.

MOFI was incorporated under the provisions of Sections 2 and 3 of the Ministry of Finance Incorporated (MOFI) Act of 1959 as an asset holding company under the Federal Ministry of Finance.

MOFI is the sole manager of all Federal Government investments, estates and other rights.

The Minister of Transportation, Mu’azu Sambo, while speaking during a courtesy visit by MOFI management said unbundling of NRC was in line with the vision and objectives of current reforms in the transportation sector.

Arguing that the current NRC cannot operate optimally, he charged MOFI to drive its unbundling to make it more viable while offering world-class services to Nigerians.

“One of the things I will like to see from 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 committee,” he said.

The minister referred to the reforms implemented in the ports and the benefits they have created, stressing that such should be carried out in the railway sector.

He assuaged fear over job loss as a result of the planned unbundling saying: “I don’t want the NRC staff to see the unbundling of the NRC as a threat to their jobs. If we have a better-performing NRC, we are going to have better salaries and working conditions for its workers. More revenue will come to the FG.”

Sambo pointed out that the issue of encroachment on railway property would soon be a thing of the past as “MOFI was berthed for a specific reason.”

Chief Executive Officer, MOFI, Dr. Armstrong Katang, said the visit was to discuss how to create a more effective and efficient partnership between MOFI and the Ministry of Transportation.