By Victor AhiumaYoung

Leaders of the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria, MWUN, have expressed worries over the dearth of low level cadres in the Nigerian Ports Authority, NPA, the Nigeria Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA and National Inland Waterways Authority, NIWA.

Similarly, MWUN has queried the continued absence of On -Board Ship Gangway men and Tally Clerks in port operations in the country following their illegal disengagement few years ago.

In a petition to the Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Adegboyega Oyetola, the union also raised the issue of the completion of issuance of biometric identify cards to Dockworkers and Seafarers identity documents, SID, to Seafarers.

The petition by the President- General of MWUN, Prince Adewale Adeyanju, through the union’s head of Media, Johnkennedy Ikemefuna, told the Minister that these and other unresolved issues portend immense threats to industrial peace in the sector.

According to the petition: “The presence of On -Board Ship Gangway men and Tally Clerks in port operations is statutory and supported by the Dock Labour Rule of 1967. The general public have been misinformed of the relevance of the Onboard Ship Gangway, Tally Men and Pooling System but it is a global standard.

“We, therefore, appeal for reinstatement of these categories of personnel and the Pooling System. This informed one of the reasons the union wrote to Mr President recently, drawing his attention to the security lapses in the ports occasioned by the absence of the Onboard Ship Gangway Security men and Tally Clerks.

“The presence of the Tally Men curtails sharp and fraudulent practices of under declaration of imported cargoes and exports. It is also imperative to know that the presence of these personnel in berthed vessels in our ports, Jetties and territorial waters is to checkmate unauthorised persons with inordinate intentions either as pirates, stowaways, hard drug peddlers,  or armed traffickers within the ports axis.

“On the employment of junior cadre employees in NPA, NIWA and NIMASA, MWUN  lamented that “for over two decades, the NPA, NIMASA and NIWA have not employed junior cadre employees but have consistently employed management personnel.

“We further observed that these agencies have been carrying out what may be termed “coded employment. The Union is appealing to the Minister to direct an “open” employment of junior cadre workers as these category of workers are fewer in the agencies as it stands today.

“There is also the need for promotion and upward salary review of NPA staff. The union wants to draw the attention of the Minister to the fact that since 2004, 19  clear years, salaries of employees, be it at the managerial level, supervisory or at the junior cadre, the NPA has deliberately refused to do an upward review of salaries and promotion.

“The workforce has been stagnated of salary and promotion review rights. This is against all norms of career growth and progression. And in view of the current harsh economic situation in the country, we also plead that the Minister uses his good office to formally direct the NPA management to urgently initiate and implement the process of upward review of salaries of all cadres of workers in the Authority.”

MWUN said that  it “is pertinent to see the visibility of NPA and NIMASA officials in all the Jetties and Terminals across the nation ‘s seaports. Unfortunately,  there is no presence of the officials of NPA and NIMASA in most of the Jetties in the country. This situation has led to a huge revenue loss to the government, while also contributing to national security risk, among others.

“Hence, we appeal to the Minister to immediately direct the deployment of both NPA and NIMASA personnel to these Jetties and Terminals where their presence is not in place.

“The union also highlighted the completion of issuance of biometric identify cards to Dockworkers and Seafarers identity documents, SID, to Seafarers.It informed that the “Union is also appealing to the Minister to prevail on NIMASA to fast-track the issuance of the biometric identity cards to Dockworkers and Seafarers identity documents.”