Oluyinka Onigbinde
Africa Association of Professional Freight Forwarders and Logistics of Nigeria (APFFLON) has urged the leadership of Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN) to explore a better option to seek Federal Government’s commitment to workers’ welfare.
The Nation President of APFFLON, Otunba Frank Ogunojemite, made the plea following the order given to the leadership of the Union by Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) to shut down the seaports over the Federal Government’s failure to improve the welfare of workers in the maritime industry.
The President of NLC, Comrade Joe Ajaero had during a courtesy visit to the President General of MWUN, Comrade Adewale Adeyanju last Friday directed the leadership to issue a two-week ultimatum to the government to review workers’ salaries and address the myriad of issues affecting the sector.
At the meeting, the leadership of MWUN alleged that letters had been written to the Federal Government since 2021 seeking its intervention, but has got no response whatsoever. Ajaero berated the Federal Government for snubbing the Union saying that “every illegal action requires an illegal approach.”
Speaking to journalists, the National President of APFFLON stated that the current economic situation was not giving anyone any joy, adding that Nigerians are being held down by very unfriendly trade and monetary policies that need to be urgently reviewed to enable the citizens have their lives back.”
According to Ogunojemite, ” Nigerians are frustrated and do not have the latitude of patience to keep enduring the hardship and that is why the Government should carefully weigh the implications of every policy before implementation, and leaders of various groups must not take any action that could worsen the situation.
“As we plead with labour union to explore a better option for reconciliation, we also urge the Federal Government to speedily look into the matter since it concerns the welfare of workers. Workers deserve their wages and entitlements and any ploy targeted at denying them such right is not in the interest of the nation.” Ogunojemite stated.
“While we hope that the in-coming administration will look into these areas and make life better for citizens, APFFLON earnestly plead with the Labour Union and leadership of MWUN to consider the very difficult economic situation and explore a better way of bringing the Federal Government to the negotiation table instead of shutting down the ports”, he pleaded.
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