WARRI—MARITIME workers in Delta State have threatened to embark on strike and disrupt movements in the state’s waterways due to loss of lives and property as a result of  incessant attacks by pirates on ferries and passengers plying the routes.

Leaders of Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria, Water Transport Workers Union and Private Water Craft Operators in Delta State, who jointly relayed the workers’ plights in Warri, said that boat drivers and passengers have become daily targets of pirates in the state’s waterways, mostly on the Warri-Burutu routes.

Yakubu Biukeme, one of the leaders, lamented that the situation was causing loss of lives and property, blaming it on sloppy policing of the waterways by security operatives.

He said: “We are, therefore, alerting the Delta State and Federal Governments of the impending consequences of shutting down the waterways if the security lapses that have claimed the lives of our members, passengers and our boats are not addressed promptly.”