Maritime workers give 14-day ultimatum over non-payment of wages to dockworkers

Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN) has issued a 14-day ultimatum to the Federal Government to prevail on International Oil Companies (IOCs) to pay stevedoring contractors appointed by the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), the charges due to dockworkers at the nation’s ports.

The union in a statement made available in Lagos on Thursday, threatened that if after 14 days the government failed to prevail on the IOCs, it members would withdraw their services and all seaports nationwide would be shut.

Signed by Adewale Adeyanju, president general of MWUN, and Felix Akingboye, secretary general, the statement said despite several meetings, the IOCs had refused to grant access to the stevedoring contractors, process their invoices and effect payment as directed by the NPA, one year after the stevedoring contractors were appointed.

The union said it could no longer continue to watch it members die prematurely because of the defiant attitude of the IOCs.

“We are aware that on 1st June 2018, the NPA appointed stevedoring contractors to provide stevedoring services at various off –shore, jetties and on-shore locations to the International oil services and other operators.

“We commend the managing director of the NPA for the effort NPA made to compel the IOCs to engage the services of appointed stevedores and registered dockworkers in their stevedoring operations. But, unfortunately, the operators have refused to comply with the NPA directive after one year that the stevedoring contractors were appointed,” the statement read.

According to the workers, the position of the operators on the NPA directive is worrisome and very surprising because the same operators had processed and paid the former stevedoring contractors since 2010 through a foremost terminal operator.

“Why are they refusing to cooperate with the newly appointed stevedoring contractors since the modus operandi remains the same?

“In fact, at a stakeholders meeting held on February 28, 2018, organised by NPA to sensitise the IOCs, jetty owners and terminal owners, the NPA management made it clear that in line with Section 27 of the NIMASA Act, 2007, only government appointed stevedores and registered dockworkers are empowered by law to solely handle discharge and loading operations at the port, jetties and oil platforms,” it said.

The statement further disclosed that the Union has been monitoring the chain of events on this matter since the last one year, and noted that the implication of the operators attitude is untimely death of some dock workers while awaiting the payment of their wages, because they could not meet their family obligations like payment of house rent, children school fees and hospital bills.

“Consequently, we are constrained to give the Ministry of Transportation that superintends the appointment of stevedores’ 14- day ultimatum to prevail on the management of the International Oil Companies to pay all outstanding bills to our members, failure of which we will be compelled to withdraw our services and shut down operations in all the nations’ seaport.”