…As operators lament loses

 BY VICTOR AHIUMA-YOUNG , GODWIN ORITSE & GODFREY BIVBERE

LAGOS – COMMERCIAL and other activities in the nation’s ports were yesterday shut down by aggrieved dockworkers over the refusal of the terminal operators to review upward their wages since June 2010 when the subsisting conditions of service elapsed.

The industrial action which effectively paralysed operations at Lagos, Warri, Calabar and Port Harcourt ports with the exception of Onne Ports, where the action did not take place, stalled loading and off-loading of berthed vessels among other operations.

The  strike resulted in ships waiting endlessly at the quay side while truck owners stayed away from the ports.

Vessels which were being discharged the previous day that was not completed were left unattended to.

Most of the offices at the various terminals were opened but the workers were restricted to paper work.

Helpless importers, Customs agents and other users of the ports who  had business engagements in the ports expressed sadness in the development, and lamented their loses.

The leadership of Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria, MWUN, had Monday directed total shut down of all ports operations nationwide with the exception of Onne Ports, yesterday in a one-day warning strike over refusal of terminal operators to review upward the wages of Dockworkers since the subsisting condition of service elapsed in June 2010.

To ensure effective strike and avoid hoodlums catching in on the situation to unleash mayhem and criminalities, the leadership of the Dockworkers Branch of MWUN led by its President, Comrade Adewale Adeyanju, as early as 7 am, went round all the port formations in Lagos on monitoring. 
 
At the Apapa quays of the Lagos Ports Complex, the entire port area were closed to business as no truck and vehicles were allowed into the port while at the Port and Cargo Handling Services Limited (Terminal C) the story was the same.  

Reacting to strike, the Kirikiri Lighter Terminal Command of the Nigeria Customs Service, Mr Banji Akinloye, said his officers were at their duty post as the strike had not affected them in any way.