The Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN) Tuesday vacated the seven-day ultimatum which it gave the Federal Government over the deplorable state of the road leading to Lagos Port.
President General of the union; Comrade Adewale Adeyanju who disclosed this to Shipping Position Daily yesterday said the decision to withdraw the ultimatum was reached after a meeting with representatives of the Federal Government led by Minister of Labour, Dr. Chris Ngige.
Comrade Adeyanju who described the meeting as very useful added that representatives of both NPA and Ministry of Transportation were also in attendant.
Even though they could not give details of the agreement reached, the President General of Maritime Workers’ Union of Nigeria however confirmed that concrete assurances about how to fix the failed portions of the access roads to Laos Port were given.
Earlier last Monday, Comrade Adeyanju had told Shipping Position Daily that the ultimatum could not be suspended until after the meet with the Minister.
He had said, “nobody can preempt our ultimatum, we have not met with the Government (Minister), it is after the meeting that we will decide our next line of action’’, he told Shipping Position Live’’.
"It is until after the meeting that the union can take a stand, so as far as I am concerned, our ultimatum still stands, nobody can pre-empt our ultimatum" Adeyanju said.
The union had issued a seven-day ultimatum to the Federal Government on January 28 to commence urgent repair of the port roads and remove abandoned trucks on the road or face industrial action from February 6, 2018.
Prior to the ultimatum, Comrade Adeyanju had told correspondents that series of meetings have been held with top management of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) all in an attempt to find a lasting solution to the failed port access roads.
Conducting top management staff of the NPA on an inspection of the roads recently, Adeyanju lamented that vessels have deserted Nigerian ports due to slow evacuation of cargoes from the port.
According to him, a lot of members of the union now stand the risk of losing their jobs owing to the dwindling fortunes of their employers. He attributed the downturn to the bad state of the roads leading to the ports.
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