Comrade Friday Orohoamen [Dockworker]
Comrade Friday Orohoamen [Dockworker]
Even the president of the country cannot satisfy everybody, not to talk of the leaders of a union or an association, however there is no government in the world that can satisfy its followers and in our own case, it’s not an exception and that is my perception towards our present leadership. They are only appointed and not elected to their various offices, because if they were elected, I don’t think this kind of things will exist. We are suffering and if our leaders were to be good and fair to us, I don’t think we will be in this condition that we are right now. You can imaging the leaders of MWUN cannot even visit us at the ship side to see what we are doing, rather they stay in their offices to tell the world that things are cordial and wages are paid regularly. I have a president that I don’t know and really, I have not even seen him in a close range before and that alone does not tell well , but I will advice that they should come down to the port and visit the ship side to see what we are going through .
Comrade Joseph Oseroghe [Dockworker]
In my candid opinion, we are not happy with our leaders, at least, when one is working with an organization ,association or a union, he or she is working to improve his or her lot, but, when the basic necessity of life is not there, then what is the essence of working? Because there is no improvement, I mean we are just stagnant, we are not moving forward, therefore we can tell our brothers, sisters and friends that we are working, that is why I say that they are not doing anything impressive. It will be better for all of them to go and to see if there won’t be any difference. They keep on promising and promising, but at the end, no positive result.
Comrade Ibrahim Ohize [Apapa District Chairman, Dockworker]
In the olden days, we know how we were being addressed by other port users, but today it is not so therefore you will agree with me that they have been tremendous changes in the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria. Truly they have done enough for all the members of the union and we will continue to pray for the President General of the union and also our branch president, comrade Adewale Adeyanju for God to give them long life and prosperity.
Comrade Akeem Lawal [District Pool Chairman, MWUN]
The present leadership of Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria was done very well, the President General has impacted so many things in the lives of dockworkers today and that is why we will continue to pray that we have somebody like him as the head of the union. More so, our lives have been transformed for the better. What the P.G has done for us cannot be compared to what the president of the nation has done. I pray that the P.G will eventually become the president of the nation. For the man to take members of the union to Dubai on a training programme alone will tell you that he has good intention for everybody. For the president of dockworkers branch, I say that he has also been able to change the lives of his members too; dockworkers are now treated like new born babies, the performance of the leadership of MWUN is impressive.
William Ebereonwu (Stevedore)
I can say that the leadership of union are lenient people, the dockworkers in the maritime industry as of today are no longer the dockworkers of violence, now I think they are well organized because the leaders are always cautioning their members to be of best behavior while performing their duty, whatever problems they have, they take it to their leaders at the branch level who will in turn dialogue with the NPA and the government. So I will rate the leadership of the union high because they are well- organized and they know how to control their workers, formerly, the leadership used to instigate their boys to go and cause disturbances in the port, but these days, any dock worker or group that causes problems for their employer, the leadership of the union will not take it easy with them and they will be punished.
Cletus Eke (Technician, 5star)
I will say that the current leadership of the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria are trying their best, because there are some certain things which we they now enjoy but which were not there formerly, this has made us to know that there have been improvements. The port concession programme has also brought about a new phase in terms of terminal operations and a conducive working atmosphere. However, there is need for them to do more and increase on what they are doing now, especially in the area of remuneration for dockworkers.
Lucky Onyema (Dockworker)
The condition of things at the port has not been encouraging, especially in terms of welfare for the dockworkers, a lot of us are still doing casual work at the terminal, many of us are still working under the regime of ‘daily pay’ , while some are permanent casual workers. Under normal circumstances, this is not supposed to be, the union has tried to fight this practice, but still noting has been done, even if they want to change us to permanent workers, they do it batches or according to how you came and how connected you are, some of us have been here for the past six years while some have been around for more than that and yet they have not been staffed, they are still under daily pay, let the union leaders come out and look into this issue so that people can enjoy the benefit of the union. I have been here for six years and I am not yet a staff, we have not felt the impact of our union leadership at all.
Usman Mohammed (dockworker)
Their performance is very poor and they have been cheating us, we have been working as ‘casuals’ in the port all these years, we have forced them to ‘staff’ us, but they refused, the contractors who are our employers have refused to make adequate provisions for us, there is no hospital, maybe you are on the job and there is an accident there is no medical facility. Secondly, in the case of any mishaps, maybe death or dismissal, there is no provision whatsoever for your family or to even compensate you for all the years you have been working, there is no compensation apart from your salary, yet we claim that we have a union; these are the things that they should be fighting for their members. I have been here as a casual worker for the past five years and this is not supposed to be so, under normal circumstances, they are to ‘staff’ you after three months, but everything is the fault of the union because they do not care for their subjects, in other countries, it is the duty of the union to spell the terms and conditions out for the contractors. We have embarked on a lot of strike actions in order for them to ‘staff’ us, but they refused, so there is nothing we can do, the problem is from the top.
Discussion about this post