Comrade Adewale Adeyanju is President of the Dockworkers Branch of the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN). In this interview with Shipping Position Daily correspondent Dapo Olawuni, the trade unionist opened up on the welfare of dockworkers in Nigeria, he lamented loss of jobs for dockworkers due to the low cargo traffic at Nigerian ports.
What is your assessment of the security level at the port?
Comrade Adewale Adeyanju is President of the Dockworkers Branch of the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN). In this interview with Shipping Position Daily correspondent Dapo Olawuni, the trade unionist opened up on the welfare of dockworkers in Nigeria, he lamented loss of jobs for dockworkers due to the low cargo traffic at Nigerian ports.
What is your assessment of the security level at the port?
The port is well secured now, we thank God that the terminal operators are doing everything at their disposal to ensure security, you cannot gain access into any terminal now without being checked properly, if you go to the terminals they are all security-compliant, this is an indication that the ISPS Code is working, if it's not being implemented well, the American Coast Guard will not come and give them a clean bill of health, we the union are also working hand in hand with them; we advise them and also write to them in the areas they are not meeting up
How is the safety of dockworkers inside the terminals, we still hear of deaths.
It is unfortunate that you cannot rule out accidents, it is not going to ring a bell, accident can come any day any time, but safety is very paramount, in the past we usually had incessant accident inside the terminal, but now there has been a lot of improvement, the safety consciousness is better than before.
How about the welfare of the dockworkers?
We are working seriously on it, you cannot satisfy workers, you can only do your best and leave the rest for God, we have not been having it so good, but the little we are able to get we are trying our best, the review of condition of service have started and we would soon sign the agreement, we have started enjoying the welfare, but it is not yet 100 percent okay.
How will you describe the performance of the port this year?
There has been no cargo traffic, when the port concession exercise started, things were rosy and going on well, but now the low traffic coupled with banning of so many items like rice and other that the poor people always consume is affecting dockworkers and we have lost 50 percent of our members because there is no job, the port concession exercise is good, but there is no job, the vessels are not coming, the government has banned so many things.
How did the recent strike at APM Terminals in Apapa affect your members?
The strike affected just one segment of the dockworkers which is the APM Terminal where the haulage operators went on strike, as for the dockworkers, work was going on, it is only the stakeholders that had a problem, we don't have any issues with the strike.
What are the challenges that the dockworkers’ branch is facing?
There are lots of challenges, it is not easy to be President of dockworkers, if the dockworkers are well paid there will not be any crisis in the port, since I assume the position of President of the dockworkers I have not recorded anything like strike, it is because of the way we manage ourselves, we respect them and they also respect us, when we have issues and problems among ourselves we usually resolve it and that is why they are respecting us, myself and President General of the union who happens to be a dockworker too. The challenges are that the job is not there and we are still losing our members; but as we are losing some, we are getting some; this is the beauty of the concessioning of the port. It is only some terminals that are supportive by engaging some of our members that lost their jobs in the past, when I assumed office, there was no work, I met up to 3000 dockworkers jobless, but now I can boast that all of them are working in the port now, it is only the cargo traffic that is affecting us now. In a situation where terminal operators and stevedoring companies are sacking members; like SDV now, they have not been having jobs for the past two years and yet the terminal has been paying the workers, recently they sent me a letter that they want to do away with 10 of them which I am still battling with, these are the challenges, if there are jobs in the port, then the union leadership will have rest of mind, but if there is no job there will be trouble here and there.
What are you doing about frequent clash between dockworkers and indigenes at Seme border?
The regulatory agency which is NIMASA is about to come into the situation now because most of the jobs they are doing at the border is part of our job, they are dockworkers port related jobs at the Seme Border, and we don't want to do things without following the rules and regulations. Some of our members have however started working at the border and the NIMASA have also sent their management team to visit the area and they have seen things for themselves, so we don't want to do things that will cause chaos or violence at the Border, we believe that the job they are doing at the border are port-related jobs and the presence of NIMASA is supposed to be recognised at the border, because at the border we have the Quarantine, the Nigeria Customs, Immigration and so many other government agencies, it is only NIMASA's presence that is not there. I commend the effort of the management team of NIMASA now because they have visited the place and I know they are going to come out with their blueprint, the moment they are at the border, I believe the dockworkers will have a say.
At the moment, would you say there is relative peace at the border?
There is peace. The fight you mentioned which happened the last time was an individual fight that involved ANLCA and another group, they are not our members, if it is our fight you would have heard our voice.
I know that your members also operate at the petroleum tank farms, how are they treated?
If I have my way, I will say the government should relocate the tank farms, they are not even paying our members very well, and why they don't want our members to work at the tank farms is as a result of their under-declaration of tonnage, they don't want the workers to know what they are declaring. But everything still borders on the management team of NIMASA, why we mention NIMASA all the time is because they are the regulatory agency in charge of registered maritime workers and those who do port related activities, I think the Director of Maritime Labour Services under the Director General of NIMASA has promised to look into private jetty operations where the dockworkers will be fully employed by the tank farm operators. What they are doing is not to allow dockworkers to enter the tank farms, they are talking about the sophisticated equipment that they are using and which they claimed that dockworkers cannot handle and it is a lie; cupling and decupling of the hose are part of our jobs, the people doing it at the depots are also Nigerians, so our members can do it, if you employ somebody, the next thing to do is send them for training so that they can acquire more skill, but the NIMASA has promised to look into it seriously, we have written several letters asking them to allow our members work there, millions of Nigerians are looking for jobs but there are jobs which the tank farms do not want us to do, but only NIMASA has the power to insist that we must be engaged, they are making excuses that we cannot handle their equipment. But if you go to APMT, most of the RTGs they are having now have not been seen at the ports before in eight years, but they did not bring robot to come and handle the equipment, the people handling the cranes are Nigerians that have been trained. The indigenous terminal operators are doing better than the foreign companies, I can call my brother at the Port and Cargo Terminal and they will understand the problem of Nigerians, but the foreign terminal operators will bring their own ideas and they will expect us to follow it immediately without sensitizing us or enlightening us. A situation whereby somebody will die in the terminal or die of a terminal sickness and they will threaten you that if you go to the hospital they will sack you, so where is the welfarism there? But I can talk to Port and Cargo and tell them that one of your workers is sick and they will listen to us. As I am talking to you now, APMT are calling me for a meeting, they came with their own ideas that Nigerians are not used to, we are now only embracing some of the ideas they are bringing, we are not condemning anybody but we are telling you that in terms of welfare, our indigenous terminal operators are far better and they are doing a lot to improve, it is not 100 percent enough, but they are increasing gradually. My members should exercise patience and understand that the union is still fighting to make sure that they get answers to their yearnings and aspirations, it is not easy to get something from your employers, but you must use caution which we have been doing, there is sanity at the port, there is peace and stability now unlike what we used to have in the past where dockworkers were being called bad names. But in the last couple of years now, we have not recorded any violence in the port, this is to tell you that the leadership of the union respects our members and they also respect us, and whatever that belongs to them we fight it for them and we don't collect what is not our own. I don't go to them or ask them of any money, whatever they get at the quay, they share among themselves, we will continue to work for them, before now we don't have graduates among the dockworkers, but today there are graduates among us.
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