Since President Muhammadu Buhari emerged as Nigeria’s President and sworn in on May 29, 2015, about 15,000 jobs may have been lost in the maritime sector alone, Shipping Position Daily investigations have revealed.
The figure according to our findings further revealed that more of the disengaged employees were regular staffer s of different organisations.
Members of the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria are mostly affected in the downsizing exercise in the maritime sector and if the looming lay-off of about 5000 stevedores is added, the figure becomes more alarming.
Between October and December 2015, Shipping Position Daily confirmed over 8,000 jobs losses mostly among members of the MWUN, even as the embattled union are still faced with non- payment of entitlement to the sacked employees.
Shipping Position Daily checks further revealed that Nigerdock Plc in October sacked a staggering 3000 direct and indirect workers in which a total of 1664 workers are members of the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria.
Meanwhile, in May 2015 Flour Mills Nigeria Limited (FMNL) also laid off about 3000 workers due to economic downturn.
The sack in the FMNL, which cuts across all the subsidiaries of the company, also affected the Apapa Bulk Terminal Limited (ABTL), who are the operator of terminals ’A’ and ‘B’ of the Lagos Port Complex (LPC).
According to insider sources, the downsizing was to trim down the workforce and reduce the company’s overhead in the face of dwindling revenue occasioned by the drop in oil prices and depreciation of the naira.
Still on job losses, the port concessionaires also laid off some of their workers in 2015 for various reasons associated with government policies.
For example, APM Terminals reduced its workforce in November 2015 , even though figures were not mentioned, sources disclosed that hundreds of direct workers were affected.
Also, PTML and Five Star Logistics terminal at Tin Can Island port were not left out in the downsizing due to government policy.
It would be recalled that the RORO operator; PTML experienced series of protests in August by workers who were laid off.
Investigations further revealed that smaller organisations including ship owners, freight forwarding and customs license brokers laid off their workforce in one way or the other, a development experts described as the worst since independence.
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