MWUN Calls Off January 9th Proposed Strike

MWUN Calls Off January 9th Proposed Strike 

Kathy Kyari 

In response to the notice of strike issued on January 4, 2024, the nation's seaports will open for regular business on January 9, 2024. This directive comes from Comrade Adewale Adeyanju, the President General of the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN), which comprises of four branches. 

This order is the result of a communique between petroleum sector operators over the deadline for complete adherence to the Stevedoring Regulations. 

The communique addressed the announcement of a strike action aimed at closing all seaports, terminals, jetties, and oil and gas sites across the country considering that all pertinent parties in the industry have signed many communiqués, the International Oil Companies (IOCs) and Stevedoring Contractors have been consistently breaking the law for the past three years.

The following resolutions were made: 1) The issue of equipment deployment will be looked into over the course of the next three (3) months, even if the IOCs have largely complied with labor deployment.

2) To guarantee prompt compliance with the Stevedoring Regulations and access for designated Stevedores, that meetings be conducted by the pertinent regulators, marginal field operators, and all other non-complant operators within one (1) week.

3) That, between now and the end of January 2024, all difficulties pertaining to compliance and location operators' permission to provide Stevedores access to work areas be fully resolved.

4( That as a gesture of good faith, the prior communiqué dated Friday, January 5, 2024, be promptly adopted while these actions are being performed.

5) That the Union has chosen to postpone the closure of the country's seaports in light of the aforementioned resolutions.

Engr. Ibrahim Abba Umar, ED, E&TS, for Managing Director (NPA), Prince Adewale Adeyanju, MWUN, and Comrade Bolaji Sunmola, President, NASO, jointly signed the communiques dated Friday, January 5, and Monday, January 8, 2024, respectively. Additionally, on August 1, 2024, Mohammed Bello Koko, MD, NPA. 

During this final episode of the alleged crisis, the Nigerian Ports Authority, acting as the Master Stevedore and the Industry Regulator, has temporarily resolved the long-standing disputes between the IOCs and the Union.

Dr. Adeyanju expressed gratitude to the MD of NPA, who presided over the first meeting, and praised him and his team for their persistence and fortitude in resolving the concerns amicably prior to the Monday meeting, when the MD oversaw the final communiqué that followed.