‘NRC to start assembling locomotives, construction of northern standard gauge’
The Chairman, Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) Management Board, Alhaji Usman Abubakar, has said that the corporation will soon start assembling locomotive engines and subsequently manufacturing them in Nigeria for the African market.
Similarly, he confirmed that the construction of Kano-ZariaKaduna standard gauge rail line will soon commence, while the old tracks would be handed over to four foreign companies for rehabilitation.
Alhaji Usman said this in Zaria, while addressing railway workers and during a courtesy call on the emir of Zazzau, Alhaji Shehu Idris.
He said, “under the terms of the concession arrangement, locomotive engines will first be assembled in Zaria and subsequently manufactured for the whole African continent. The workers are not opposing it but all they are after is to be paid off by their old employer, which is the federal government before the new employer takes over.”
The Railway District Manager (RDM), Northern District, Mr. Aderemi Isma’il Adebiyi, said the district was committed to improving the quality of train services in the country.
While promising to assist the corporation, the Emir of Zazzau, Alhaji Idris, urged the federal government to adequately fund the railway because of its importance to the lives of Nigerians.
The Chairman of the Nigerian Union of Railwaymen (NUR) and Senior Staff Association (SSA), Aliyu Mainasara, urged the federal government to consider the plight of workers and other Nigerians in the concession arrangement.