About 5,000 members of the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN) are set to lose their jobs in about two weeks, following decision by the Nigerian Ports Authourity (NPA) to distance itself from the engagement of the tally clerks and on-board security men currently engaged as stevedores in the nation’s seaports.
Already, NPA has written a letter to 10 stevedoring firms notifying them that its decision to disengage from the tally clerks and on-board security men by December 15, 2015 is irreversible.
Insider sources told our correspondent in Lagos last week that the 10 stevedoring firms are the employers of the embattled dockworkers. They are currently engaged in Lagos port, Tin Can Island port, Onne port, Rivers and Calabar ports.
The firms are: Matral Marine Services, Bashisa Global Limited, Westland International, Dockworth Services International, Longshore Stevedoring (all in Lagos Port Complex). Others are: Excellent Dominion, Blue Ocean Cargo Handling (both in Tin can Port).
Also affected are: Patrade Nigeria Ltd (Rivers port), Insight Marine Ltd (Onne port) and Fairdeal Agency Ltd (Calabar port).
The NPA letter, which was obtained exclusively by our correspondent, and which was signed by its executive director in charge of marine and operations; Engr David Omonibeke, made reference to an earlier stakeholders’ meeting which held on November 10, in Lagos.
It read: ‘’Sequel to the stakeholders meeting held at Best Western Hotel, Vitoria Island on the 10th of November 2015, management has resolved to discontinue with the services of Tally clerks and on-board security men based on the fact that the Authourity has ceded cargo handling to terminal operators in the concessioned areas. The terminal operators are responsible for stevedoring in their respective areas as provided in the concession agreements’’.
The letter consequently directed NPA personnel to stop accepting bills from the stevedoring companies as from December 15, 2015 when the current contract will expire.
Shipping Position Daily however confirmed that NPA plans to engage the services of cargo surveyors to replace the tally clerks.
Efforts to speak with the leadership of the union was unsuccessful, as they were said to be at a crucial meeting, perhaps to deliberate on the fate of the large number of their members who will soon become jobless.
But a source close to the executive of the MWUN told Shipping Position Daily that the union will have to seek alternatives to letting its members loose. “We have to find a way to ensure that they continue to work. The union is being proactive about this’’, he said.
But those who spoke to our correspondent expressed apprehension about the NPA’s decision to throw more than 5,000 dockworkers into the unemployment market.
A senior stevedore who pleaded anonymity raised alarm that the nation’s ports may be returning to the pre-port concession era, when the union paid the dockworkers and there was no order.
‘’If you remember, the MWUN was collecting wages from the ship owners and the NPA and paying the dockworkers, it was very chaotic, it took the determination of Chief Ojo Maduekwe as Minister to put a stop to the malaise’’, he recalled.
He also noted that the dockworkers were all registered by the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA).
At the November 10 stakeholders’ meeting where the NPA indicated that it would ‘sack’ the dockworkers, the National Association of Stevedoring Companies had warned that at the expiration of their contracts with NPA, there must not be a vacuum in the operations of tally clerks and on-board security men, because this is an integral part of port operations.
But, President of the Nigerian Association of Stevedoring Companies, Mr. Bolaji Sunmola has kicked against move by NPA, saying that it will render 5,000 Nigerians jobless.
Bolaji told Shipping Position Daily that as employers of dockworkers, the association is aware of the move by NPA and that it is already talking with the Minister of Transport, Chief Rotimi Amaechi to call NPA to order.
He expressed worries that even though the Federal Government is battling to create employment in fulfilment of its 'change' mantra, the NPA is throwing spanners in the works of the government.
"Let's capture it this way, as from 15th of December; NPA wants to throw 5,000 Nigerians into unemployment for their own inordinate reasons"
"Everybody has an authority controlling it, so we are talking to the Federal Government about it through the Minister of Transport and we hope that something will be done, on or before then, it will be better if they appeal to the NPA"
He said that if all else fails, the unemployment market will swell.
"Federal Government is trying to create employments but the NPA is truncating the change by throwing a spanner into the works of the government"
Efforts to get to the Dockworkers Branch President of the Maritime Workers Union, Comrade Adewale Adeyanju proved abortive as his phones were switched off.
Discussion about this post