The Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN) has raised alarm over imminent breach of national security by a terminal operation in Apapa port; APM Terminal.
The union, in a statement issued on Sunday and signed by its President General; Comrade Adewale Adeyanju, alerted that the terminal operator has engaged foreign security personnel at its operational area in the port.
The MWUN acknowledged the nations’ trying times in terms of insecurity and warned that, “any act capable of further contributing to its breakdown should be met with serious attention”.
In the statement which was sent to Shipping Position Daily, the MWUN disclosed that APM Terminal has engaged a South African security outfit to maintain security in its terminal in the Lagos Port Complex.
“APM Terminals, Nigeria, whom we are reliably informed have through a memo to our members, ceded and out-sourced the security functions of the organization to an external –South African, security service provider –Messrs G4S and Security management by CRS effective Thursday March 18th, 2021 without recourse to the Union and consideration to our members and the nation’s security”, the union alerted”, the union added.
It also raised alarm that, by its action, APM Terminal has ceded security operations and limited involvement of Nigerians in its container terminal to foreigners.
“We are more alarmed because what that means is that the security functions of APM Terminals which one of the biggest receiver of containerized cargo in our nation’s seaport has been outsourced to foreign nationals without input from local and internal security systems thus opening up our ports to all sorts of inflow of dangerous cargo which are not recorded”, it warned.
The union also threatened that, unless APM Terminal rescinds the decision to engage foreigners in its terminal in Apapa port, there will be industrial unrests.
“Consequent upon the foregoing, the Union has demanded for an immediate reversal of this unilateral action and maintain the status quo in order to avoid any crisis in your terminal”, it warned.
The MWUN also alleged that, APM Terminal has concluded plans to bring more foreigners into its terminal, thereby denying Nigerians of their employment.
According to the MWUN, “even more outrageous is the fact that APM Terminals has almost concluded arrangement to carry out same anti –labour practise in other departments of their organization and deprive thousands of Nigerian workers of a means of livelihood. This is in clear negation of the federal government’s goal to create employment.
“We wish to inform the general public that APM Terminals is in this action unilateral and in clear violation of clause 3 of an existing Agreement reached between the Union and their management which states that “In the event of a further need for outsourcing in the operations, the MWUN and management of APMT will discuss and reach an agreement”, it added.
“Suffice it to say that APM Terminals unilateral action has caused restiveness amongst the rank and file of our members, as we have neither discussed nor reached any agreement on outsourcing of security functions of any organization, Thus, we view this unilateral action as an anti –labour practise and a disrespect for the Nigerian people and needs.
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