Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN), has issued a seven day ultimatum to the Federal Government to compel the International Oil Companies, IOCs over refusal to allow Stevedoring companies and Dockworkers into their operational areas as required by law in the past eight years.
In a statement signed by President-General and Secretary -General of MWUN, Prince Adeyanju Adewale and Felix Akingboye, warned that if at the expiration of the ultimatum the Union’s demand is not met, all ports operations nationwide would be shut down until the demand are met.
The Union lamented alleged silence of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and ultimately the Federal Government to the non – compliance of the IOCs to extant Stevedoring regulations and the Marine/Government Notice No. 106 on Stevedoring regulations, 2014 issued by the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA.
We wish to further draw the public attention to the repressive practice of the IOCs by denying our members (Dockworkers), access to their operational areas and consequently, denying the Dockworkers the opportunity to earn wages. To worsen the matter, these IOCs have flooded the operational areas with aliens/foreigners at the expense of local workers and in breach of statutory regulations including the Local Content Act, NIMASA and NPA acts that prescribe indigenising of workforce.
The statement indicated that the Federal Government and its agencies especially the Ministry of Transportation and NPA, for the past four years have failed to compel the IOCs to not only comply with the statutory regulations, but to also comply with the communique reached at the stakeholders’ meeting of 2018.
