Nigeria is gradually drawing closer to ratifying the much- talked- about Maritime Labour Convention (2006) even as indications have emerged that the signing of a final memo from the Ministry of Transport is the only determining factor for a meeting with the Labor Advisory Council to put an end to the first phase of the ratification process.
Critical stakeholders drawn from the labour unions and the maritime industry have also met last week in Lagos to tie up the other loose ends.
Nigeria is gradually drawing closer to ratifying the much- talked- about Maritime Labour Convention (2006) even as indications have emerged that the signing of a final memo from the Ministry of Transport is the only determining factor for a meeting with the Labor Advisory Council to put an end to the first phase of the ratification process.
Critical stakeholders drawn from the labour unions and the maritime industry have also met last week in Lagos to tie up the other loose ends.
Shipping Position Daily correspondent at a tripartite meeting organized by the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) to facilitate the process exclusively learnt that the NIMASA as well as other affected stakeholders will be having a meeting with the Labor Advisory Council on the 27th of September where the fate of the convention will be determined.
The meeting had in attendance: NIMASA’s Executive Director of Maritime Labour and Cabotage Services, representative from the Federal Ministry of Labor, Nigeria Merchant Navy Officers and Water Transport Senior Staff Association, representatives of Labor employers, the Indigenous Ship-owners Association of Nigeria (ISAN) the Nigerian Labor Congress (NLC) Trade Union Congress (TUC) as well as the Lagos State Government.
The essence of the meeting was to sensitize the key players about the convention and its benefits, and to also analyze some of the benefits and why Nigeria must ratify it. The other reasons for the meeting was to determine the requirements for ratification and to mobilize the ministry of transport and ministry of Labor so as to give the political will needed to fast track the process.
Already, 33 other maritime nations have ratified the law, Sweden and Philippines being the last to ratify. The convention will be coming into force by August 2013.
Part of the resolutions reached at the meeting was that, since the convention has already been ratified by other countries, Nigeria has no choice but to follow suit because the provision automatically becomes binding on all countries.
Speaking at the tripartite meeting, NIMASA’s Director of Maritime Services, Alhaji Isa Baba noted the benefits of ratifying the MLC in Nigeria, according g to him it will improve living and working conditions and also create more employment for Nigerian seafarers.
Baba said that the convention is a combination of about sixty five other maritime instruments and that it will also lead to registration of more vessels to fly the Nigerian flag as against de-flagging in order to avoid detention for lack of compliance. Apart from creating a comprehensive and effective protection for government and ship-owners, it will also bring about job protection to seafarers.
He said that NIMASA is already “developing a detailed orientation programme on the implementation of the MLC 2006 for all seafarer employers, seafarers associations and relevant maritime stakeholders, the orientation is aimed at providing a detailed understanding of the convention and the role of social partners before its entry into force in 2013”
Also speaking with Shipping Position Daily at the meeting, former National President of the Nigeria Merchant Navy Officers and Water Transport Senior Staff Association, Capt. Thomas Kemewereigha assured that all the necessary sequence to the ratification has been followed and that what is left is the endorsement of the minister of transport.
“Already, all the sequence has been followed, letters have been written to the minister of transport, the minister has engaged his advisers and legal department, they have prepared it but its just left for him to endorse it, the memo has been sent to him and all has been prepared on his table for endorsement”
“There is no challenges with the ratification of the MLC, where we might have a problem is the domestication, because whether we ratify it or not the law binds us, so we don’t have any option than to ratify”
Capt. Thomas also explained that after the ratification, there is need for domestication of the convention with existing laws in Nigeria, “if the existing laws are higher than the MLC then we incorporate it into the existing laws because this is the benchmark”
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