The Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN) has petitioned the Speaker of the House of Representatives over the passage of the Ports and Harbours Authority Bill 2015, saying that the bill spells doom as it would lead to massive job losses for Nigerian Port Authority (NPA) workers.
Shipping Position Daily at the port yesterday sighted the 4-paged petition letter dated 1st of June 2017 with reference number; MWUN/HS/FHR/R.NPA/2017 signed by the President General of MWUN, Comrade Adewale Adeyanju and Comrade Felix Akingboye for the Secretary General of the union.
The union warned that the promoters of the Bill are only after their personal interests and this is to concession the harbour operations of NPA to private individuals, whereas, all over the world, harbour operations is an exclusive duty of government because of the security implications and huge revenue generation.
It stressed that if passed into law, the Bill has great security and revenue risks for the Federal Government and it would lead to mass sack of NPA workers.
MWUN warned that government should avoid the same mistakes of the Port Concession of 2006 which allegedly led to the sack of 12,000 NPA workers.
Already, the Ports and Harbours Authority Bill which seeks to repeal the Nigerian Ports Authority Act 1955 as amended has already been passed by the Senate and is awaiting concurrent passage by the House of Representatives.
Quoting relevant sections of the bill, MWUN noted that the bill provides that not all NPA workers would be absolved into the Ports and Harbours Authority and that even those employed would not be pensionable.
"The provision of item 6 in the second schedule of the bill is repulsive. It provides that every staff of NPA would not be absolved in the ports and Harbours authority. No provision was made for what fate would befall those workers that would be affected including how and who pays their terminal benefits"
"Condition of service for the new authority will not be governed by statute and their employment with the new authority would be deemed as fresh employment without regards to the numbers of years they have served the NPA"
"The provision of Section 15 (4) of the Bill gives the authority the powers to employ persons on none pensionable terms and conditions, this is offensive to the provisions of the pension reform act 2004 as amended"
MWUN expressed shock and concerns that the bill sponsored by a member of the House of Representatives, Honourable Ossai Nicholas Ossai has gone through a second reading without the union as one of the major stakeholders in the sector being carried along.
The union advised that all maritime stakeholders should be carried along whenever an important bill that would affect them is being debated and not side tracked as seen with the Ports and Harbours Authority Bill.
"As stakeholders, we shall be seriously affected by the passage of the Ports and Habours Authority Bill 2015 once passed into law, hence this protest letter"
"In order to gain a sound appreciation of this letter, a peep into the history of NPA is necessary.
The concession of the ports impacted negatively on our members as not less than 12,000 workforce were thrown into the already saturated labor market. The negative effect of the exercise is still being nursed by our members and the union till date"
"We have gone through the NPA Act 1955 as ammended there is nothing wrong with the current NPA Act that could warrant it's amendment , it's just that the proponents want to corner to themselves the Harbours job of the NPA which is a major revenue earner for the agency and by extension the federal government without taking into consideration the security of the country and the havoc it would wreck on the workforce as it was done during the concession of the port"
"Mr. Speaker, in consideration of the foregoing we write to express our total rejection of the bill and honestly demand that the bill should be allowed to die a natural death" it stated.
The letter was copied to the ministers of transportation and ministry of labour, National Security Adviser and the Chairman House Committee on maritime safety, education and Administration.
Discussion about this post