Nigerian Railway Corporation workers on Thursday commenced a three-day warning strike, grounding rail services nationwide.
The workers commenced the strike on Thursday and shut down passenger and cargo train services of the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC).
The NRC employees under the aegis of the Nigerian Union of Railway Workers earlier on Wednesday vowed to halt train operations nationwide including services on the popular Lagos-Ibadan, Abuja-Kaduna, and Warri-Itakpe routes.
Other notable routes to be affected by the industrial action include Lagos-Kano, Kano-Unguru and Aba-Port Harcourt, with thousands of railway passengers expected to be stranded at stations across the country while about N90m revenue is expected to be lost to the three-day strike.
The NUR, an affiliate of the Nigeria Labour Congress, threatened to embark on a three-day nationwide warning strike last week from November 18 to November 20, 2021, to press home their demands for improved welfare.
In Abuja, the nation’s capital, workers in Idu locked the station and displayed various placards in protest.
At the Mobolaji Johnson Train Station in Ebute-Metta in Lagos, aggrieved workers were also seen with placards, lamenting poor welfare and poor salary.
Train service at the Professor Wole Soyinka railway station in Abeokuta, Ogun State capital was also paralysed because of the industrial action.
The railway terminus was deserted as workers abandoned their duty posts.
No passenger was seen around, tickets, luggage, and passengers lounge areas as they were under lock and key.
It was learnt that the sector would lose about N90m during the three-day warning strike and that if the demands of the workers were not met, the union might declare another industrial action nationwide.