Following the connection of the Lagos ports to the standard gauge rail project in February 2021, more cargoes have left the ports by rail compared to previous years where every cargo left by road. However, the human element involved in the rail evacuation of cargoes has continued to earn starving wages for moving millions of tonnes of cargoes out of the ports, writes TOLA ADENUBI.
For years, Nigerian ports lacked intermodal means of cargo clearance as 90 per cent of containers that departed the ports left via road haulage, a development that piled huge pressure on the nation’s roads and led to the collapse of the ports’ access roads.
However, the reliance on the roads to evacuate cargoes changed in February 2021 when the Federal Ministry of Transportation (FMoT)connected the Lagos premier port in Apapa to the Lagos-Ibadan standard gauge rail.
According to the Lagos Railway District Manager of the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC), Mr. Jerry Oche, the movement of cargoes in and out of the ports by rail has reduced the pressure on the roads.
“The beauty of this is that we do an average of one return trip to the port a day. A return trip for us is in and out.
“If we look at 40 feet containers, we are talking of 19 containers in (for exports) and 19 containers out (for imports) each day. That is equivalent to 38 trucks off the road a day. If we carry 20 feet containers, we move 38 containers per trip. That is 38 export containers into the ports via rail and 38 import containers out of the ports, also via rail. That is 76 trucks off the road.
“This is just a rough average of what we are doing daily and we hope that soon we will increase freight shuttles because there are many measures we are trying to put in place to improve our efficiency,” the NRC District Manager told newsmen recently in Lagos.
Poorly paid pilots
With many cargoes being moved in and out of the ports via rail, the pilots who drive these locomotives have remained underpaid, investigations have revealed. Speaking to the Nigerian Tribune exclusively, the President General of the Nigeria Union of Railway Workers (NUR), Comrade Innocent Ajiji lamented that in this part of the world, we hand over assets like the very expensive locomotive engines, multi-million Naira port cargoes and even human lives to train pilots that are being paid starving wages as salaries.
In the words of the NUR President General, “The pilots who man and drive all our standard gauge trains, be it Lagos-Ibadan, Abuja-Kaduna and Warri-Itakpe are all poorly remunerated. Even the ones that drive cargo trains out of our ports, they all earn below N30,000. Are we not toying with danger? When the people that we entrust to carry passengers and cargoes on our standard gauge trains are not well motivated, can something bad not happen along such voyages?
“Most earn around N20,000 that is when you deduct all the necessary fees like union fees, health fees and others fees usually deducted at source, then most of them are left with something just above N20,000. These are the same set of people we entrust with containers out of the ports. These are the same sets of people that we entrust with the lives of passengers along the Lagos-Ibadan, Abuja-Kaduna and Warri-Itakpe passenger train services. Are we not playing with fire in this country?
“If not that our members are well cultured and well trained, something bad could have happened with those cargoes that are being moved out of the ports via rail every day. We are talking of containers that have imported items worth millions of Naira inside them. Yet, our government does not see anything wrong in ensuring that the people that move these cargoes are well remunerated.
“Aside the containers or the wagons, the locomotive engine itself is worth around N600 million Naira. If we add the value of each container that a locomotive carries, 19 containers when it is 40 feet and 38 containers when it is 20 feet, then the value of one single trip out of the ports is above N1 billion Naira. Yet, we employ a pilot who earns below N30,000 to drive these trains. Is that not ridiculous? It’s only in this country that such things happen.”
Depleted workforce
For many who couldn’t bear the starving wages paid to workers of the NRC, such workers have left enmass for greener pastures elsewhere, thereby depriving the NRC the much needed man-power to improve its operations. Disclosing this to the Nigerian Tribune exclusively, the Secretary-General of the NUR, Mr. Segun Esan explained that from 2011 till date, over 2,000 of the workers employed by the NRC have left the Corporation.
“The salaries earned by railway workers as at today are the poorest when compared to other agencies under the FMOT or even when compared to other ministries of government. Many professionals who were employed and could have helped in improving the rail sector have left because of the starving wages given to railway workers.
“Between 2011 and 2021, the NRC has done about three to four rounds of recruitment, bringing in about 2,500 people to come and work in the Corporation. But do you know that as of today, we don’t have up to 500 of the 2,500 people employed between 2011 till date still in the NRC. Many of them have left because they couldn’t just cope with the starving wages that are being handed out every month as salaries.
“With the departure of these good hands, the NRC has lost human elements that could have helped in driving the sector forward,” Segun Esan told Nigerian Tribune.
The hungry workforce
For most of the pilots, the likelihood of getting financial tips when driving passenger trains is another reason many jostle to get assigned to passenger train duties instead of cargo train duties. Speaking to the Nigerian Tribune, a train pilot who wouldn’t want his name in print due to fear of persecution, explained that sometimes, during passenger train rides, benevolent passengers reach out to workers onboard trains when the ride is smooth and devoid of unnecessary delay.
“Sometimes, when the train ride is not delayed and we arrive on time, some benevolent passengers reach out to us (train workers). Due to the very poor salary, I always pray against being assigned to move cargo trains because there is no hope of any goodwill from anywhere since everything you are carrying is goods.
“But when you drive passenger trains, sometimes, you get encouraged by passengers. It can be in words or in cash. At least, that augments the poor salary that we are paid. For some of my colleagues who are permanently assigned to drive cargo trains at the ports, they tell us that they are trying to influence their way out of the ports and into the passenger trains. These are married men with families who earn below N30,000 monthly. With what is happening in Nigeria as of today, many can barely feed their families not to talk of pay school fees and other needs,” the pilot said.
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