Even though he was urged by stakeholders to venture into politics, immediate past President General of the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN) Comrade Tony Nted has indicated that he is retiring to go into preaching the word of God as a pastor.
Nted made the statement at the weekend during a send forth party organised in his honour for his leadership prowess during his eight years in the saddle.
The occasion which was chaired by the Chairperson of the Seaport Terminal Operators Association of Nigeria (STOAN); Princess Vicky Haastrup also witnessed a large turnout of maritime industry stakeholders who took turn to commended Comrade Nted for maintaining peace among maritime workers in the past eight years.
Asked what he would be venturing into after leaving the union, the Ex-MWUN President General said that he would not be going into politics, but that he would thrive well preaching the bible.
"I would love preaching and teaching the word of God, I love God so much, He would decide what I am going to do next, but one thing I don't like; I don't want to be a politician", he said.
He lamented that the Federal Government has failed as far as the maritime industry is concerned. According to him, successive government appointees always pay lip service to development of the port, leaving it to degenerate into its present state.
"The government is not doing enough, they need to look into the access to the port, they also need to look into the bottlenecks in the port, the excessive government agencies inside the port. This was why Nigeria is one of the most expensive ports in the world", he said.
Chairman of the occasion, Princess Vicki Haastrup commended Tony Nted for maintaining an unprecedented peaceful atmosphere in the past eight years thereby allowing terminal operators to thrive in their businesses.
She said that under the leadership of Tony, there was no problem in the maritime sector, whereas before him, there was incessant stoppage of work.
She called on all MWUN members and maritime industry stakeholders to extend same support Tony enjoyed to his successor, Comrade Adewale Adeyanju.
"Tony has written his name in diamond and I am one of the people who have benefitted from the kindness of Tony, I think Nigeria should celebrate Tony, he is a man that can be the president of Nigeria"
"I and my colleagues will not forget you because you gave us an enabling environment for us to do our business"
"I want to appeal that the kind of support you gave to Tony you will always extend to Adeyanju, you made a good choice in Comrade Adeyanju because he has been under the tutelage of Tony, we identify with Comrade Adeyanju because he also has the love of the industry at heart, Tony couldn't have given us a better person"
"Tony is a kind and compassionate man with the love of the industry at heart, always putting his private resources to train the dockworkers, he did not abandon the people he represented, neither did he condemn the people he was working with, when there are problems he always use the best model of conflict resolution"
"His shoes are so large that it would take comrade Adeyanju extra effort to fit into Tony shoes" she said.
Also speaking, former Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA); Chief Adebayo Sarumi said he had always monitored Tony Nted and his progress from afar and that he was not surprised that he got to the pinnacle of maritime unionism.
He recalled that: "At the time of Uzoije Ukaumuna, it became my business to come up with new leadership of the dock workers who formed the basis of the maritime workers union today, and I was to put together a group of people who would be their leaders, I am so happy that Tony happened to be one of them".
"I don't see Tony becoming the president of the dock workers or president of MWUN, but I observed that I have someone on my hands who is quiet intuitive and extremely cerebral, little wonder he became what he became, he is already a leader in the making, he has what it takes to even become the President of Nigeria" Sarumi affirmed.
He urged the ex-MWUN PG not to abandon the union, but that he should continue to work for it by way of rendering advice and other supports.
Minister of Labour and Productivity, Dr. Chris Ngige who was represented by the Director in charge of South – West Zone commended Tony Nted for the way he had administered the union in the past eight years.
He noted that there has been relative peace in the sector and this shows the respect the PG of MWUN has for his constituency which is the labour union.
Ngige declared the unflinching support and commitment to work with the new executives of the union to grow the maritime industry.
On his part, the new President General of MWUN, Comrade Adewale Adeyanju described Tony as a complete gentleman, a philanthropist, very transparent and a kind hearted person.
On the various challenges militating against smooth port operations, Adeyanju said that: "I need to sit down with my executives to come up with ways that we can advise the government, we know that a lot of things are going on inside the port which is nothing to write home about"
Other stakeholders who gave goodwill messages at the occasion includes; the President of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) Comrade Ayuba Waba, NIMASA executive director maritime labour and Cabotage services, Mr. Gambo Ahmed, pioneer chairman of docklabor union, Pa Joshua Ogunleye among others.
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