Comrade Adewale Adeyanju, is the President General, Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN). In this interview with Oluyinka Onigbinde, he speaks on how the COVID -19 Pandemic is affecting the union, the roles played by maritime agencies in securing the release of the arrested dock workers in Rivers state and other sundry issues.
There is no gainsaying that the COVID -19 pandemic has affected almost all the sectors in the country, especially the maritime Industry, in specific terms how has it affected MWUN?
You are right, the pandemic has affected the country, including the maritime industry, it is sad and unfortunate that the pandemic is coming at this time. For us at MWUN, we have said we will resist any terminal operators, shipping companies who may want to downsize their workers as a result of the COVID-19, after all the COVID-19 is not anybody’s fault, so our member shouldn’t be made to pay for it.
You played a major role in the release of dock workers arrested by the Rivers State government, what role did maritime agencies play in securing these dock workers?
We thank God for the Executive Secretary of Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NCS) Mr. Hassan Bello, he played a major role in the release of the dock workers, you know when we issued the threat, he called and asked me for the way forward, and we were able to resolve the issue. We also appreciate the new DG of NIMASA, Dr. Bashir Jamoh, he also played a major role, in fact he even issued marine notice on that, which has never happened before. So it is not about going to the television and making unnecessary noise before people can know you are working, he has proven to be a grass root person who understand the industry.
He operates an open door policy which is good. Of course, not forgetting the Managing Director of Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) Hadiza Bala Usman, of course you know NPA controls the port, so she played her role as well.
Recently NLC signed a MOU with NECA on protection of jobs of employees, is the MWUN carried along?
Of course yes, you should know I am the National Trustee of the Nigeria Labour Congress, and there is no way the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria will not be carried along, we were carried along and we were part of it. So as a union, we are not folding our arms, and that is why we won’t allow any management to down-size any worker or cut salaries.
What is the total number of dock workers affected by the COVID 19 pandemic?
We thank God for the awareness in the maritime industry, I will say the awareness is close to 90 percent which helped to forestall the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic in the country, secondly the ministry and the task team played a major role in the sensitization of the workers, we were moving from one terminal to the other to ensure that dock workers are protected. We only had two cases, even the one of APMT, is back and fine, and we thank God we were able to curtail the spread in the industry.
Stakeholders believe that the shipping companies in the country are becoming too powerful for the country as they alleged that many of them jettison the laws. Do you agree with this?
Nobody is above the law, they cannot become too powerful for the country to handle, although they are not doing well, we were supposed to take them up, but because of the COVID 19 pandemic, we couldn’t do that, we wrote to their association the Shippers Association of Nigeria (SAN) and they wrote back to us to give them time after this COVID 19. So we are engaging them after this COVID 19, they are the worst employer of labour; they have no regard for the workers, they do not have regard for their staff. We are addressing these issues and we will make sure that what belongs to the shipping staff will be given to them as soon as the pandemic is over. Shipping staff cannot be treated as slaves in their father’s land.
But what do you think makes these shipping companies to grow wings?
It is our people, because many of these shipping companies are owned by expatriates and; telling them this is how much you should pay to these people, they believe they have the backing of one politician or the other and they disregard their staff, so all that will have to stop, we are already working on it.
It’s almost a year since the National Assembly passed the NIMASA Anti-Piracy Bill, Do you think the bill has been able to achieve its purpose?
Yes, I read that they (NIMASA) arrested some pirates recently about 10 of them, this is a good one. I think the Anti-piracy bill is a good one and it’s going to achieve its purpose.
I know the man (NIMASA DG) is going to perform, because he understands the industry, he is a leader who understands the problem of the maritime sector and I believe with his wealth of experience, he should perform well.
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