Director-General, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dr. Bashir Jamoh, on Thursday charged employers to enroll their dockworkers in the contributory pension scheme.
Speaking during a dockworkers day event organised by the agency in Lagos, Jamoh also called on the operators of oil and gas terminals to grant approved stevedores and dockworkers access to their platforms to perform loading and offloading operations.
The NIMASA Director-General said the dockworkers day with the theme “Healthy Dockworker, Better Productivity” was organised to appreciate Nigerian dockworkers’ contribution to the economy.
“As we celebrate today, it is important to put in perspective the plight of dockworkers who spend the greater part of their working life at the ports, with little or nothing to show for it. As employers of labour, you must endeavour to put in place a contributory pension scheme for dockworkers and ensure prompt remittances of both employers and employees contributions at the end of each month.
“This occasion presents me with an opportunity to express the need for operators in the private jetties and oil and gas terminals to grant operational access to the stevedoring contractors appointed by the Honorable Minister of Transport, to carry out stevedoring activities in assigned operational areas,” he said.
On his part, the President General of the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN), Comrade Adewale Adeyanju, thanked the management of NIMASA for organizing the event to celebrate Nigerian dockworkers.
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