MEMBERS of the Pensioners Welfare Association of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) have opposed the proposed privatisation of the authority’s marine operation saying that “it will further impoverish the nation”.

Speaking at this year’s Pensioners’ day celebration, the President of the NPA Pensioners Welfare Association, Mr. Reuben Onotafe, said that the group thought that the Government would have learnt a lesson from the last reform exercise.

Onotafe however called on the Senior Staff Association of the NPA and the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria to brace up and fight against government’s move and save NPA from the impending calamity.

He noted that privatising the marine operations of NPA will give rise to the system being taken over by a few privilege Nigerians who will further bastardize  an already cannibalised system.

The group’s President also stated that a privatised marine operation of the NPA will also give rise to security challenges, unemployment and inflation and urged the government to retrace its step to cacel the entire port reform process and return to the former status quo and the process has not produce any economic benefit.

He was of the opinion that capitalists have taken over the Nigerian port industry adding that if the government does not do something to check mate these capitalists, the nation’s economy will suffer for it.

Onotafe explained that port charges are higher than it was under the time of NPA and that workers now receive twenty (20%) percent less than when they were receiving from  NPA.

He however challenged the management of the Port authority to publish the names of concessionaires and the up to date payments of their dues to government.

He said: “We shudder to believe that after the last concessions were made to the private sector regarding the NPA officers and staff, the Federal Government is still contemplating on privatising some departments of NPA.”

“We hereby call on the Senior Staff Association of NPA, the Maritime Union and other Sister Unions to brace up and fight as one body in order to save the Nigerian Ports Authority this time around from impending privatization, because we have discovered that no economic benefits were derived from earlier exercises.

“It is our belief that succeeding managements of NPA will endeavour to correct this ills perpetuated by past managements of NPA”

He commended the current management for being pensioner friendly and appealed to management to llok into the case of some his colleagues he referred as ‘emergency pensioners’ who were affected by the port reforms exercise.