Maritime workers suspend strike 

The Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN) has suspended its planned nationwide strike that would have commenced today, and directed all members to go about with normal work schedules.

According to the union, the seaports would no longer be shut as against the strike notice issued on January 4 over the non-compliance of international oil companies and stevedoring contractors “with the extant laws”.

MWUN had, on the January 4, accused the IOCs and stevedoring contractors of violating the undisclosed law for the past three years after several communiques signed by all the stakeholders in the sector.

However, the union said it suspended the planned strike following a communiqué signed Monday for full compliance with stevedoring regulations by operators in the petroleum industry addressing the concerns of the union.

A statement by the President-General of MWUN, Prince Adewale Adeyanju, through the MWUN’s Head of Media, John Ikemefuna, said resolutions by stakeholders at Monday’s meeting noted that though the IOCs have substantially complied with the deployment of labour, the matter of equipment deployment is to be examined within the next three months.

The statement reads in part: “Meeting will be facilitated within one week by the relevant regulators and the marginal field operators and all other non-compliant operators to ensure immediate compliance with the stevedoring regulations and granting of access to appoint stevedores.

“Full resolutions of all issues relating to compliance and grants of access to work locations to stevedores by location operators be sorted out between now and the end of January.

“While these actions are being taken, the earlier communiqué reached Friday, the 5th of January, be immediately implemented as the mark of good faith.

“Based on the above resolutions, the union has decided to lift the impending shutting down of the nation’s seaports.”