Ahead of the its elections coming up in March, members of the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN) at the weekend trooped out in their multitudes to hold a solidarity rally in honour of their President General; Comrade Tony Nted Emmanuel, commending him for his peaceful leadership style which according to them, has ranked the union high among affiliates of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC).
The solidarity rally which held last Friday at the Tin Can Island Port First gate in Apapa, Lagos was led by Presidents of the four branches of the union namely :the Dockworkers Branch headed by Comrade Adewale Adeyanju, the Nigerian Ports Authority Branch headed by Comrade Adeleke Sanni, Shipping and Courier branch headed by Comrade Uche Igwe-onu and President of the NIWA branch, Comrade Francis Bunu.
Comrade Nted would be handing over to another successor on March 17TH2017 after the union’s elections in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State.
In a commendation letter which was co-signed by the four Presidents and later presented to the MWUN President, the members appreciated Nted’s transparent leadership style and for keeping the ports at peace throughout his reign as president. His style according to them has been a scientific tool for negotiation, rather than the use of might.
They equally commended him for negotiating a good condition of service and welfare package for all dockworkers, ensuring local and overseas training for not less than 6000 members, while not less than over 180 members were trained in overseas countries like South Africa, Dubai and USA.
Other achievements of the PG according to them includes; resuscitation of upfront payment of house rent allowance to NPA staff, negotiated ex-gratia payment of N1.5million and N1million for some members who were placed on redundancy due to the prevailing economic recession.
The union leaders told their president: “We also want to acknowledge your humane and philanthropic gesture to officers and staff of the union; we are not unaware of the malicious, libellous and unfounded publications currently in circulation, especially in the social media aimed to malign you by some faceless and mischievous individuals”
“PG Sir, please ignore them and continue the good work you are doing, the entire members of the union are solidly behind you”, they added.
In his response, President General of MWUN, Comrade Tony Nted appreciated the four branch presidents and their members, saying that the achievements during his tenure have been a collective effort.
“A lot of you are living testimonies that since our inception in office till now, the port has been peaceful, the dockworkers orientation has changed, they believe in dialogue, the era of banging tables is gone, they are now more reformed than any other workers in the port today” he said.
He urged the members of the union to extend the same corporation and support he enjoyed to the incoming administration, in order to uphold the peace in the maritime sector.
He urged them to embrace peace, saying that union is a non-governmental organization and not a political party where leaders are imposed on the union.
On the upcoming elections in March 2017, he assured that “the workers would decide who the qualified candidate is, we are not going to disenfranchise anyone, people should stop going about spoiling our name, this is a workers union, nobody imposes candidate on anyone”
In an earlier interaction with the media, the MWUN PG had assured acknowledged that petitions had been written against him by some elements in the union. “There are different allegations and petitions flying around, petition to ministry of transport, petition to the labour ministry and so on, but this cannot deter us from doing what is right”, he said.
On the coming election, he told a group, including correspondent of Shipping Position Daily that, “As far as maritime election is concerned, those who qualify will contest the election, when they win, we would all clap and come back to Lagos. But to say that I am imposing a candidate on the people is not correct, I have only one vote, and in a situation whereby three people are contesting an election, I will vote for one person and I will support one person, I cannot share my vote to the three people, if I am supporting a particular candidate does not mean that I am imposing the person, that does not mean that I would not look for one candidate out of the three to take over from me”.
