In this Interview with Shipping Position team, Prince Adewale Adeyanju; the President General Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria speaks on his achievements since resuming office. He also touches on sundry labour-related issues
“Today, the average dockworker knows that 7am is 7am and 8am is 8am”
“The real dockers are the ones gainfully employed by terminal operators”
How has it been since assuming office as PG?
It has not been easy, but we give God the glory that makes me assume the position as a grass root member of the union and that one has enabled me to move the industry forward along with my executives. We give thanks to God for giving us support, which has helped reduce the challenges that we have.
Where you anticipating challenges?
There is no how you will not anticipate challenges; either you do it well or not, someone will still fault you. But when you have focus and you know what you are doing, there will not be need to panic, because you may encounter challenges anytime.
What has been your greatest achievement since you were elected President General of MWUN?
I came in to meet some challenges that have to do with building the image of MWUN, which we have been able to do, it may not be 100% okay, but we believe we have done well. First and foremost, let me talk about the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) that cut across board, all the four arms of the union have their CBA up and running, and we are doing that without any hindrances, for the NPA workers their CBA is through the Ministry of Transportation. We have also got CBA for the dockworkers which are a volatile branch, but we thank God today, because of the innovation and transformation that are going on among the leaders. I think the dockworkers that we have today are the most peaceful workers we have ever had. You know as well that, in the past we didn’t have what we call CBA for dockworkers, but during my period we were able to build on what we met on ground and we are able to get the condition of service for them and now they are entitled to terminal benefits, pension, gratuity and all that. So, no dock worker of today will leave the port (retire) empty-handed or just a handshake because they now have the CBA which other branches of maritime workers’ union equally have.
Also when you talk about the shipping branch, I think we have a lot of challenges in that branch that have to do with the poor remuneration of the workers, which has led us to declare state of emergency in the sector. If not because of the COVID 19, I think by now the union would have done something reasonable for the average shipping workers in the shipping branch of the MWUN. We are still on top of that and some responsible ones among the shipping companies’ management are complying, while some saboteurs who believe that COVID 19 has come and there is nothing for the workers, so we are also on top of that too.
Then we have the seafarers’ branch, the seafarers and dockworkers are all the same; they are children from the same father and mother, they also have the CBA now, so I think we have a robust administration in the union.
Some have alleged that you have preference for the Dockworkers branch, how true is this?
No, I wouldn’t want us to see it in that direction, dockworkers are the volatile men and women and we just need to connect with them, because the peace that everybody is enjoying today is because of the training and the transformation the dockworkers have got. If our past leaders had introduced this training to the dock workers, I don’t think there would be crisis in the port. Why I put more effort on dockworkers is because of their attitude; the dockworkers of yesteryears don’t have regards for their employer, but that is no longer there. So the average dockworker knows that 7am is 7am and 8am is 8am, which forms the CBA that all of them are enjoying today.
So, let us pay more attention to them for the industry to continue to grow, so that there won’t be crisis upon crisis. It is not that we pay more attention to them, but because of who they are, that is why we need to orientate them, government is also orientating them and even some terminal operators are also doing so, which has made us to have sanity in the port and that is what we are praying for.
But how come we still have issues of pilfering at the terminals?
You see, we need to know who are the real dockworkers, the real dockers are the ones gainfully employed by terminal operators, including their stevedoring contractors that are managed by NIMASA, those are the responsible dockworkers; those carrying the biometric identity card of NIMASA. So those without these things cannot call themselves dockworkers, so they should attribute good things to dockworkers, because the dockworkers are the goose that lays the golden egg and they have contributed immensely to growth of the of the economy. So they should not give them bad names that they are the ones pilfering at the port.
I started like any of them, it is my job as a dockworker that made me who I am today, I started from the grass root as a labour to operations manager which is the highest position in stevedoring outfit, before I find myself where I am today.
What are the things the union has done as regards welfare of its members?
We have been able to give palliatives to our members, courtesy of the International Transport Workers Federation for seafarers; we tried to let the whole world knows that as MWUN of Nigeria, we are part of the development and in all the ports the palliatives incentives were given to seafarers all over Nigeria seaports and it’s a good gesture and I will applaud ITF and NIMASA equally did the same by way of extending palliatives to us. We want other stakeholders to emulate what the new DG of NIMASA is doing, he is a responsible man and he is doing a very good job, which we expected the former DG to do, we all can see what he did by way of sending out Marine Notice when some stevedoring contractors did not allow some dockworkers to work in their jetties, but this man came in without even informing the union, he sent out a Marine Notice stating that dockworkers have legitimate job to do in those jetties and that he is creating employment for Nigerians, with what he has done the union will support his administration.
With the role the former DG played as regards the CBA, are you saying he failed?
The issue of CBA for dockworkers was midwife by NPA in 2006 as a result of crisis that nearly engulfed the whole port. You know when the port concession was coming and they retrenched almost 13,000 dockworkers including NPA workers, so it was NPA that midwifed and introduced the CBA and when we found out that it was working well, we key into it. So the new MD of NPA introduced the CBA and later transferred it back to NIMASA, because they are the ones to register dockworkers, they are the ones to give them biometric ID cards and that was why it was transferred to NIMASA to handle.
So it was not Dakuku (former DG NIMASA) that did it, but I am not condemning his administration, but the truth is- in terms of welfare, Dakuku never supported the MWUN. He only concentrated in bringing in some ideas that are not attractive to the seafarers and the dockworkers.
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