By Victor Ahiuma-Young

The federal government has been urged to 

speed up the process of payment of the benefits to disengaged and aged seafarers of the defunct Nigerian National Shipping Line, NNSL.

Sources said all documentation has been completed after verification and approval by the Minister of Blue and Marine Economy.

Vanguard gathered that all necessary documents have been sent to the Ministry of Finance for the release of funds for the payment of the entitlements of the aged seafarers and their beneficiaries. “We have done the verification and other documentation, which we gathered have been submitted to the Minister of Blue and Marine Economy. The Minister has approved the same, we have been told. We also learned that the Minister has sent the documents to the Minister of Finance for funds to be released for the payment of our pensions and other benefits,” one of the affected disengaged seafarers said.

Recall that President Olusegun Obasanjo’s government liquidated the NNSL in 1995, and since then, the battle for the payment of the benefits, including pensions of former employees, including the disengaged staff, has been ongoing despite a valid court judgment.

Not long ago, the President-General of the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria, MWUN, Prince Adewale Adeyanju, had informed that the unpaid pensions of the aged seafarers, which he inherited, had been a serious concern to the union for 30 years, despite efforts by previous leaderships of the union.

He lamented that many of the affected former employees had died, and others were critically ill and needed money for medical treatment, but successive governments had been foot-dragging on the payment.

According to him, “We even got a court judgment that the government should pay them their entitlements, but all to no avail. We have finished the verifications of the former employees and the beneficiaries of those who have died. It was a tripartite arrangement between the Ministry of Blue Economy, Nigeria Ports Authority, and Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA. 

“Since the verification, nothing has happened. The outcome of the verification exercise has not been made public. We are now waiting for the outcome of the report of the verification exercise. We need to know the figures. How many people have died? How many people are next of kin, so that we can sit down with the government and negotiate their pensions and other benefits? It is negotiable in line with the court judgment. The matter has been ongoing for over 30 years.”

Earlier, MWUN signed the Memorandum of Understanding, MoU, on how to address the protracted issue.

The three-point MoU was reached between the Federal Ministry of Transportation and MWUN after a meeting called by the immediate past Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige. The meeting was convened to find a lasting solution to the lingering case of non-payment of pensions to aged seafarers disengaged from the defunct NNSL in 1995.

According to the MoU, “After exhaustive deliberations, a nine-man committee was set up to verify those who have been paid, audit payment and costs (the rate used in the payment), determine those that are deceased and their date of demise, and those alive. The committee will also seek guidance from the Pension Transitional Administration Department (PTAD) for the payment of their pensions.