MWUN TO EMBARK ON INDUSTRIAL ACTION TO PROTEST ROT IN QUAY APRON TERMINAL

In a bid to protest the dilapidated Quay Apron at the Five Star Logistics terminal in Lagos, Maritime Workers’ Union of Nigeria, MWUN has concluded arrangements to withdraw their services from Tincan Island port with effect from Monday 10th July, 2023.

The President General of MWUN, Comrade Prince Adewale Adeyanju who disclosed this in a goodwill message at the Breakfast Meeting and inauguration of new Executive by the Maritime Reporters Association of Nigeria, MARAN in Lagos on Thursday, informed that he had given a directive to that effect.

He observed that he had issued so many press statements in the past calling attention to the deplorable state of the quay apron at the terminal to no avail adding that the Union would no longer fold her arms and watch the lives of her members endangered by the negligence of those who are supposed to protect the safety of the workers.

“We have given instructions and directives have been given to all the dockworkers and all the port users in the Five Star Logistics that all our members are going to be withdrawn from service as a result of the quay apron that has been dilapidated for so many years because we keep on telling them that all is not well but they will not listen to us.

“There’s no amount of grammar that they are going to blow here that I am going to listen because for me, I have listened to a lot of grammar but for now what remains for the Maritime Workers’ Union of Nigeria is to partner with all the other stakeholders including MARAN because MARAN has now taken over the responsibility of being a unionist”, he said.

While thanking MARAN for drawing attention to the deplorable condition of infrastructure at the Tincan Island Port, the MWUN boss opined that the discourse should not be restricted to Tincan Island Port alone as the story is the same to all the ports within the country.

“It’s not only Tincan Island Port, Mr. President of MARAN, let us generalize it to all the ports. The ports are not habitable to all port users because when you are saying it is only Tincan Island,what happens to Onne port? What happens to Warri and Calabar? Because we travel a lot, we see our members day in day out. If we concentrate on Lagos ports alone, what about the other ports? Go to Warri, go to Onne, if you reside in Port-Harcourt, it will take you four or five hours before you get to Onne port. It’s as bad as that.

“I was in Port-Harcourt and I know what happens in Port-Harcourt, I wrote to NPA complaining about the quay apron in one of the terminals there and up till now, it has not been fixed and we say we have concessioned our ports to private hands. So, I think that MARAN has come to tell the whole world that all is not well within our ports.

“What are they doing to remove those who have no business being on the road because the last time that I release that press statement, somebody was telling me that the Nigerian Ports Authority has fenced all their gates. Why fencing gates? What about the access roads? Are you going to fence that one too? Because this is the port, you have already concessioned the port, you have given it to private concerns to manage. You are a landlord and the tenant is constituting nuisance to your property, don’t you have a sledge hammer that you will use against those ailing tenants?

“The MD will tell us all these ones this morning because some of us are not new in the port, we knew how the port was in those days, the system has changed. There are some terminal operators who have the mind of doing business in this country, there are some terminal operators who do not believe in maintaining their standard within their terminals”, he stated.

Appreciating MARAN for coming up with the topic, “Rehabilitation of Tincan Island Port: Proffering Workable Solutions said, “with what you have done now, you have exposed the terminal operators to the whole world that they are not taking care of the facilities given to them by the federal government. It’s only few of them that you can assess their terminals.”

He, however, called on the federal government led by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to appoint technocrats, to be at the helm of affairs in the port so as to achieve the desired results.