Even as the strike called by Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN) enters the third day, the Lagos Chambers of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) has said that the nation may have lost more than N100Billion
You will recall that that the MWUN shut down the seaports in the country due to non-payment of dock workers by the International Oil Companies (IOCs) since May last year.
Reacting to the strike action the Director General LCCI Dr. Muda Yussuf in a chat with Shipping Position Daily said over hundreds of billions of Naira have been lost as a result of the closure of ports nationwide.
According to him, “It is unfortunate that this is happening because the cost to the economy is enormous, because we are talking of hundreds of billions of naira, in terms of demurrage that people will have to pay.
“In terms of the disruption in production processes, disruption to businesses, the interest payment people have to pay and whole lot of issues and this will further compound the issues of congestion they have in the port. Because by the time they go back now they have to be clearing backlogs of cargoes and so on and so forth”
“So it’s unfortunate that this is happening and I think that what we should be doing going forward is to ensure that things like this don’t get to this stage, we should not allow it to come to a point where they will go on strike, there should have been proper engagement and responsive action on both sides before it gets to this point. Because ideally the strike should be the last result” he said.
The President General of MWUN Com. Adewale Adeyanju while addressing members of the union at the Lagos Ports Complex entry gate on Thursday noted that the struggle continues until they get what they want.
The MWUN boss who visited the Tin Can Island Port along with other branch executives, commended the efforts made by the Managing Director, Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) Hadiza Bala Usman to ensure that the IOCs pay all outstanding monies.
He also disclosed that another round of meeting is expected to hold at about 2pm, assuring members of the union that the outcome of the interaction would determine if the strike would continue on Friday or not.
He maintained that all other seaports nationwide have been shutdown and will continue until the multinationals do the needful.
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