By Gerard Izuora/Ijeoma Agudosi
The Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria, MWUN, has threatened to shut port operations nationwide in an indefinite strike from today (Wednesday) over lingering disputes with government.
Ahead of the commencement of the strike, the union had, weekend, notified Nigerian Ports Authority, NPA, the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA, and private terminal operators of the looming shut-down of all ports’ formations nationwide.
The strike is aimed at forcing government, through the NPA, to address the lingering issue of tally clerks/on-board security, minimum standard for dockworkers and NPA staff welfare matters, among others.
It was gathered that despite several agreements in the past, the government had concluded plans to do away with the tally clerks/on-board security despite their importance to port operations and national security.
According to the union, the latest ultimatum to government to address the issues of the tally clerk/on-board security, among other pending issues, expired yesterday, (Monday, December 15) and it had decided to put operators on notice so that they would not be caught unawares.
An officer of the union confided with journalists that the strike would commence Wednesday after the President-General and some other leaders of the union would have come back from a foreign trip.
However, Oriental news nigeria cannot confirm commencement of the strike as it appear that certain activities are ongoing at the ports in Lagos
The union conveyed the notice of the strike to the NPA in a letter to NPA dated December 12 and signed by Mr. Edwin Sambo, Deputy Secretary General (Admin), with the title, “Notice to shut down the seaports”.
The union wrote: “Please, be informed that the Union will be forced to close down the nation’s seaports if the under-listed issues which are affecting our members are not addressed before Monday, December 15, 2014 – Tally Clerks/On-board Security, minimum standard for Dockworkers and NPA staff welfare matters.”