Railworkers threatening legal action over demolition of Enugu quarters
The Nigerian Railway Corporation employees peacefully demonstrated in Enugu on Tuesday, threatening to take the state government to court over the demolition of their offices and staff quarters.
The workers then sent a seven-day ultimatum to Peter Mbah, the governor of Enugu State, requesting that he talk with them on the replacement of the destroyed structures.
The destruction of homes spanning 30,000 square meters inside the Railway Corporation in the Holy Ghost region commenced on Friday, the penultimate day, as part of the Governor Mbah administration’s urban regeneration initiative for the proposed Enugu Central Station.
According to the PUNCH, among other places, the government destroyed the branches of First City Monument Bank, ECOBANK, Oha Micro-Finance Bank, College of Education, and Our Saviour Institute of Science, Agriculture, and Technology.
The state government asserted that it had a Memorandum of Understanding with the Railway Property Management, which leased the property to the inhabitants, despite the fact that a number of the occupants had since filed lawsuits, with a few of them winning judgments against the exercise.
The administration further asserted that certain residents and the Railway Property had received compensation from the government.
The workers protested on Tuesday, airing their complaints about the government demolishing their offices, staff quarters, and training schools without giving them a replacement.
As they marched through the demolition site, the workers sung labor solidarity songs and held placards with various slogans.
The Nigerian Union of Railway Workers‘ President-General, Comrade Innocent Ajiji, spoke to media during the demonstration and called the demolition “ludicrous” and “inappropriate,” saying that the government had carried out the operation with impunity.
Ajiji stated that there was no negotiation with the labor unions or Railway Property Management, in contrast to what the government claims.
We are here Enugu today to voice our opposition to the state government of Enugu demolishing our properties. We own properties all around Nigeria, and the necessary procedures are followed whenever the government feels the need to invest in our holdings.
But on a fateful Sunday, we learned from the Enugu State government that officials arrived with bulldozers and began tearing down our buildings.
“That demolition included ten of our apartments where residents were residing. In addition to the carriage and wagon workshop and the entire civil engineering department training school, we also had a traffic training school that was dismantled.
Ten three-bedroom apartments that housed railroad employees and some retirees were also razed. We came because we find this to be very unacceptable,” he remarked.
He said that because they had prevailed in the Industrial Court, there had already been litigation on the properties.
“Railway Property Management won the dispute involving the properties at the Industrial Court. According to the ruling, we should buy those residences.
Thus, we are now being sued by Railway Management and the Federal Government. Until the outcome of the lawsuit in court, the state government is not permitted to make any changes to those properties.
He said, “The Enugu State government tampered with those properties that are already in court without taking any of this into consideration.”
He gave the states of Lagos and Osun as examples, stating that they provided an alternative after the Railway’s properties were destroyed to make room for new construction.
“Some of our houses were destroyed and rebuilt in different states. Some of our offices were destroyed, while others were duplicated, but we are unsure of the Enugu government’s intentions.
He has not come to speak with any Ministry of Transportation representatives or members of our management team. According to Ajiji, the government simply showed up and desired to occupy our land in that manner.
