A major industrial action that would have paralyzed train services across the country has been averted after the new Managing Director of the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC), Dr Kayode Opeifa, met with the union.

The workers, under the aegis of the Nigerian Union of Railway Workers (NUR), planned to down tools this week and later suspended the action following the resumption of Opeifa on Thursday.

Opeifa had earlier appealed to the union not to suspend the action but to cancel it completely.

In deference to the MD, the President-General of the NUR, Comrade Innocent Ajiji, told newsmen on Friday that the strike action has been canceled to enable the unions to reopen negotiations with the new MD.

Ajiji, who is also the President, Africa Railway Workers Union (AfRWU), an affiliate of the International Transport Federation (ITF), after meeting with the managing director in company of the president, Senior Staff Association of the Nigerian Railway Corporation (SSANRC), Comrade Marcel Okeke, said the unions had agreed to cancel the strike.

“On behalf of all our members we are assuring him that as a result of this appointment, we are not only suspending, but we are outrightly canceling all machinery set in motion for an industrial action aimed at drawing federal government’s action to the plight of railway workers,” Ajiji said.

The workers are agitating for the payment of the workers’ allowances as well as 90 percent salary enhancement.

“We look forward to commencing a new negotiation with the new MD and his team because we believe that we can get something more from the new MD based on his antecedents and his pro-workers disposition,” Ajiji said.

The new MD, Opeifa, while assuring that he would address the issues in contention, said staff welfare would be prioritized under his administration.

Daily Trust reports that the NRC operates train services on the two narrow gauges known as the Western and Eastern Lines, and three standard gauge lines comprising the Abuja-Kaduna, (AKTS), Itakpe-Warri (IWTS) and Lagos-Ibadan Train Service (LITS).