By Victor Ahiuma-Young
MARITIME Workers Union of Nigeria, MWUN, yesterday in Lagos, gave the management of Nigerian Ports Authority, NPA, two weeks to ensure that Shell Petroleum Development Company, SPDC, Chevron/Texaco, Agip Energy & Natural Resources and 18 other firms pay dockworkers for tonnage handled in off-shore operations for the past three years.

The union, Tuesday, shelved its threat to shut down ports operations across the country from yesterday over the issue, saying the management of NPA had intervened and that the affected companies had agreed to pay.

Addressing journalists yesterday, President-General of MWUN, Comrade Nted Anthony Emmanuel, said to show that the union was not just interested in shutting down the ports for fun because of the importance of the ports to the nation’s economy, the union decided to shelve its planned strike and gave NPA two weeks to sort things out and enure that payment was made.

On the issue of unpaid arrears to On-board security and Tally clerks who have not been paid the benefits for over two weeks,  he said every thing had almost been concluded for the payment of the  arrear and stressed that pay could be effected within the next three weeks because the board of NPA last week approved payment of the arrears.