MWUN tasks Blue Economy Minister on maritime sector challenges

The Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN) has decried the refusal of International Oil Companies (IOCs) to obey Marine Notice 106 of 2014 and extant stevedoring regulations remain a major threat.

The union, in a letter it sent to the Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Adegboyega Oyetola, also lamented the refusal to pay monthly pensions to aged seafarers, illegal disengagement of onboard ship gangway security and tallymen, dredging of Onitsha, Calabar, Warri, and Port Harcourt Ports, and the completion of the issuance of biometric identify cards to dockworkers and seafarers identity documents (SID) to seafarers.

The President-General of MWUN, Prince Adewale Adeyanju, in a statement also said that maritime agencies including the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), National Inland Waterway Authority (NIWA) and the Nigeria Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) have not employed junior workers but have consistently focused on recruiting management personnel over the past 20 years.

“In 2014, the Nigeria Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) in its bid to regulate the activities of the stakeholders in the maritime sector issued the Government Marine Notice 106. The Marine Notice is the operational guidelines to all dock labour employees and private operators of any work location including ports, jetties, onshore/offshore or bonded terminals, inland container depots, off-dock terminals, dry ports, and platforms.

“The law stipulates that government-approved and NIMASA registered Stevedores/Dockworkers shall be allowed by the IOCs to the operational areas allocated to them by the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA). It is very annoying to state here that since the Marine Notice was issued in 2014 most of the IOCs have continued to refuse the stevedores access to their platforms and to do their legitimate business of stevedoring activities thereby shutting out the dockworkers’ from the opportunity to work and earn a living.

“In the face of the arrogance being perpetuated and several warning notices given by the Union as well as interventions of NPA, the IOCs have refused to comply, except a handful. It is on record that the IOCs’ continued denial of our members (dockworkers) the opportunities to work and earn a living is an invitation to crisis that the fledgling economy cannot afford.

“There is also the question of using the National Joint Industrial Negotiating Council, NJIC standard as the template of payment to both the Dockers and Seafarers which we insist all the employers in the sector must use and update. However, it has not been applied in the shipping sector of the industry. We appeal to the Minister to ask the erring employers to comply.

“Another is issue the refusal to pay aged seafarers monthly pension. This protracted matter ought to have been disposed of.  Some of the seafarers were exited from service in 1985. In 1995, there was another batch of seafarers who were sacked following the liquidation of the Nigeria National Shipping Line, NNSL. For more than a decade, the disengaged seafarers were not paid terminal benefits, gratuity, and pension. However, the retirees were compelled to approach the National Industrial Court, NIC, in 1991 and on March 15, 2001, praying the court to direct NIMASA, the agency responsible for the welfare of Seafarers to pay their gratuity and pension.

“The inion had to conduct a verification exercise which prompted the payment of Gratuity but Pension was withheld, in spite of the existing court rulings and Union’s demand. In view of the foregoing, a committee comprising members from the Ministry of Transport and Labour, Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), NIMASA, and Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria was recently constituted through the office of the Permanent Secretary and was midwife by the Ministry of Labour to verify those Seafarers who are still legible for pension to propose modalities of payment – this is still in the process as we passionately appeal to the Minister to prevail on the said committee to expedite action in this regard,” the union said.