Dockworkers branch of the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN) has raised an alarm that many of its members are currently out of jobs due to the low cargo traffic at Nigerian ports.
President of the Dockworkers Branch of MWUN, Comrade Adewale Adeyanju in an interview with Shipping Position Daily confirmed that the union has lost 50 percent of its members due to lack of cargoes coming into Nigeria.
Dockworkers branch of the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN) has raised an alarm that many of its members are currently out of jobs due to the low cargo traffic at Nigerian ports.
President of the Dockworkers Branch of MWUN, Comrade Adewale Adeyanju in an interview with Shipping Position Daily confirmed that the union has lost 50 percent of its members due to lack of cargoes coming into Nigeria.
He confirmed to our correspondent that on assumption of office, five years ago, he met more than 3000 jobless dockworkers who were casualties of the port reform exercise.
He however said that the union has been able to secure jobs for all of them inside the ports.
"We met close to 3,000 dockworkers that were jobless when we took over, but I can boast to the whole world that all of them are working in the port now, it is just the cargo traffic now that is affecting us, and the terminal operators and stevedoring contractors are sacking some of our members" he said.
Adeyanju lamented that one of the companies; SDV for the past two years have not been getting jobs and the terminal has been paying the workers.
He however said that "just of recent, they sent me a letter that they want to do away with 10 of them"
"It is because there is no traffic, when they started, everything was going on well, but now, as a result of the low cargo traffic, banning of so many items like rice and others has affected the dockworkers, we loss 50 percent of our members because of no job"
"The port concession is good but where is the traffic? The vessels are not coming, the government has banned so many things and it's all affecting us" he lamented.
Speaking on the activities of the dockworkers branch of MWUN, Comrade Adeyanju stated that it is not easy task to be president of the dockworkers.
According to him, if the dockworkers are well paid, there will not be any crisis in the port.
"Since I became president, I have not recorded any crisis inside the port; this is because of the mutual respect"
"The challenge is just that the job is not there and we are still losing some of our members, but as we are losing some we, are getting some" he said.
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