Sunday Okobi
The Association of Nigeria Railway Senior Citizens (ANRSC) has raised the alarm that over 50,000 former workers of the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) are currently homeless, while others are facing eviction from their official quarters due to the refusal of the NRC management to implement a 2004/2005 Monetization Policy of the Federal Government.
Addressing transportation journalists over the weekend, the National Chairman of ANRSC, Segun Esan, said: “It is important to mention here that the federal government introduced the Monetization Policy in 2004/2005 for two major reasons.
“The first reason is to relieve the federal government of the huge financial burden of maintaining these government quarters, vehicles, and domestic staff across the country. These quarters are to be sold to the occupants on an owner-occupier basis, whether serving or retired, at discounted and affordable prices.”
According to him, “The second reason for the promulgation and implementation of this gazetted monetization policy is to use the reality of the existing quarters to provide homes for the federal government workers and their families.
“And the White Paper and the SGF Circular Ref. No. SGF/OP/I/S.3/VII/2003 was very clear about the monetization: To convert all government quarters to an owner-occupier basis by selling them to the legal occupants.
“That was the purpose. It was a welfare and retirement security policy. It has been fully implemented in all the Ministries, Departments, and Agencies of the federal government, which includes NNPC, CBN, NPA, FAAN, Federal Ministry of Aviation, Department of Meteorological Services, and even in the Judiciary.
“Today, Judges and staff of the Judiciary are proud owners of their former official quarters. Their workers have peace after retirement. And we wonder why the Nigerian Railway Corporation is different. Why are railway workers singled out for punishment by its own management?
“This is where we must speak with pains, but with facts. The past management of the Nigerian Railway Corporation, by itself, commenced the implementation of some part of the monetization process. They monetized and shared vehicles – official cars- and they monetized furniture, paying furniture allowances to themselves. They benefited robustly from the policy. But when it came to the most important aspect – the quarters where the poor retirees live – they refused to implement it. This is selective justice. You cannot take your own vehicles and furniture under monetization and deny the retirees their quarters under the same policy. That is injustice and oppression.
“Successive managements since 2004 have turned our quarters into a cash cow. Our quarters have been sold secretly to third parties, to money-bags and cronies. They have been leased out at exorbitant rates while the legal occupants – retirees – are being evicted. They used the period of interminable litigation as a window to continue selling our heritage.”
He said that on January 6, 2016, Justice Babatunde Adejumo, then the President of the National Industrial Court of Nigeria (NICN), in Suit No. NICN/LA/22/2011, delivered a landmark judgment in their favour after being in court for five years. “The court affirmed that we are entitled to own our quarters under the Monetization Policy. Instead of obeying that judgment, NRC Management in 2016 ran to the Court of Appeal and has kept the case there since 2016-10 years down the line now.
“In its glorious days, the Nigerian Railway Corporation was the highest employer of labour in Africa, with over 50,000 workers spread across the North, North-East, North-Central, North-West, Western, Eastern and Lagos Districts of the Corporation. Till today, those 50,000 workers have created millions of families all over the country who today form a critical voting population in every state of Nigeria,” he said.
Esan added: “It is on the premise of this injustice and deprivations that we appeal to our President and father, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, for help. We know that our President is a compassionate and just leader with a lot of respect for the retirees. “We implore His Excellency to, please, direct the implementation of the monetization policy. The houses already exist – they are the quarters we live in. With the advancement in technology, provision of quarters for civil servants is no longer in vogue all over the world.
“The government has no business keeping the quarters of a privatised and already liberalized railway industry to itself. The quarters are to be sold as expressly directed by the policy while the government, through the Corporation, concentrates on providing rail transport services to the nation.”