Railway Incurs N9.14bn personnel cost annually

The Managing Director, Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC), Fidet Okhiria has said that personnel cost of the Corporation has risen to N9.14billion annually.

Speaking when members of the National Assembly Joint Committee on Transportation visited the Ebute Meta headquarters of the NRC, Okhiria, said that the Lagos-Ibadan rail line will need 1,000 additional workers at the cost of N567.45m per annum.

Okhiria, disclosed this in Lagos when
he put the current workforce of the NRC at 10,672 while the current personnel cost for 2021 was estimated at N9.14bn.

On corporation’s revenue generation since 2020, the NRC Boss said it has remitted N1.13bn to the Federal Government approved dedication Treasury Single Account domiciled with the CBN.

The Chairman, Joint Senate/House Committee on Transportation, Abdulfatai Buhari, said the House was ready to support the NRC with necessary legislative framework to ensure effective rail transport and boost inter-regional business in the country.

He said, “You are all aware that the joint committee is carrying out its statutory constitutional responsibilities to ascertain the level of work done.

“We are here to oversee how funds appropriated in the past fiscal years were expended and how much is needed for the smooth running of the corporation against the next budgetary allocation.”

The Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Transportation, Abbas Tajudeen, asked contractors working on the projects to open a good channel of communication with the committee.