About six years after the nation’s seaports were handed over to private firms, the Maritime Worker Union of Nigeria has scored the con cessionaries low, saying that they have not impacted positively on port operations.
The President of the Nigeria Port Authority branch of the Union, Comrade Adeleke Sanni told Shipping Position Daily in an exclusive interview in Lagos, yesterday that the value added by the concessionaires has not been encouraging.
About six years after the nation’s seaports were handed over to private firms, the Maritime Worker Union of Nigeria has scored the con cessionaries low, saying that they have not impacted positively on port operations.
The President of the Nigeria Port Authority branch of the Union, Comrade Adeleke Sanni told Shipping Position Daily in an exclusive interview in Lagos, yesterday that the value added by the concessionaires has not been encouraging.
Comrade Sanni alleged that the process of handing over the nation’s seaports to private hands was done in a hurry even as many issues concerning labours were not properly addressed.
He said that the Nigeria Port Authority [NPA] cannot be compared to the concessionaires in area of performance adding that the landlord of the nation’s port (NPA) did better during its era.
The president explained that the process of clearing goods from the port takes more than two weeks, describing the situation as cumbersome adding that this is largely responsible for the usual bottlenecks that are commonly seen along the port access road.
‘’We still have a situation whereby people have to wait for a week or more to examine their containers and things were not that bad when the Nigeria Port Authority were in charge” Sanni lamented.
According to him, ‘’even with the equipment on ground, people still have to wait for a longer period to examine their containers, but agreed that “we have seen a lot of changes in the area of newly- acquired equipment by the concessionaires’’.
“Issues concerning the workers that were disengaged during the concession were not properly addressed because by now all those who were disengaged can still be employed by the concessionaires, but we cannot see such at the moment’’.
‘’The concessionaires are making money from the country’s ports, but they should also address the challenges on ground. As a result of the poor state of their equipment, some lives have been lost by our members and it is not too good on their part.”
The union leader however called on the concessionaires to improve in the area of cargo handling as it affects clearing of containers out of the port, adding that it is an added advantage on the part of the concessionaire to acquire modern tools to effect changes in the ports and to train workers on how to utilize the tools.
‘’I call on the concessionaire to procure modern equipment and to train and re- train the workers that are going to handle the equipment, they should also make safety their watch word’’, he counseled.
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