MWUN Directs Members to Shutdown Seaports and Jetties Nationwide, January 9th

MWUN Directs Members to Shutdown Seaports and Jetties Nationwide, January 9th 

Kathy Kyari 

Due to the ongoing refusal of the International Oil Companies (IOCs) and Stevedoring Contractors to abide by the laws currently in place regarding stevedoring, Comrade Adeyanju Adewale, the President General of the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN), has asked all members of the Union to close all of the country's seaports, jetties, and oil & gas platforms on Tuesday, January 9, 2024. 

This was revealed on Wednesday, January 3, 2024, in a statement released by Comrade John Ikemefuna, the Head of Media. 

Recollect that the Union had sent numerous letters, press releases, ultimatums, marine notices, and ministerial orders that were ignored by the NPA management. The most recent of these was dated June 13, 2023, and included reference number MWUN/MD/NPA/SC/U/1.23. It concerned duly signed communiques that had been sent over a period of years.

However, the Union is using this platform to demand that IOCs completely abide by the stevedoring regulations in accordance with the communiqués that all pertinent industry parties have signed.

According to Adeyanju, the whole burden of awarding operating licenses to stevedoring companies so they can perform stevedoring services for authorized IOCs in Nigeria falls on the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), which serves as both an industry regulator and master stevedore. 

"The NPA also have the enduring duty to use its oversight and regulatory authority to ensure respect for law and regulations in the dealings of the International Oil Companies (IOCs), who make use of the services of the stevedoring companies; and by extension, Members of Maritime Workers Union as Workers in  (IOCs) employ. However, it's saddening that the NPA have abdicated its sole responsibility by allowing the IOCs to run an unimaginable riot without control in the sector".

"As a responsible social partner and a Union which operates strictly in line with extant regulations, MWUN have since 2018 severally brought to the NPA's  attention the refusal of the IOCs to honour the provisions of the extant  stevedoring regulations and the continued violation of the remittance of Union Cheque-off dues in line with the extant stevedoring regulations". 

"As a bridge of the extant stevedoring laws stated, the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria, will on the 9th Tuesday, 2024 shut down the seaports nationwide after the expiration of the three (3)  work days already given to NPA commencing from the 4th of January, 2024".