Posted by By Udede Jim on
On-going port concessioning in the maritime sector of Nigeria's economy may run into a major labour storm if threats by the President-General of Maritime Workers' Union of Nigeria (MWUN) are not addressed quickly.
On-going port concessioning in the maritime sector of Nigeria's economy may run into a major labour storm if threats by the President-General of Maritime Workers' Union of Nigeria (MWUN) are not addressed quickly.
The labour boss, Comrade Peter Onikolease Irabor, who spoke at the Port Harcourt, Onne & A.M.S/Intels District Delegates' Conference of Dockworkers Branch of MWUN on Friday, July 8 in Port Harcourt, lambasted the Minister of Finance, Dr. (Mrs.) Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala for embarking on deceptive reforms of the nation's economic gateway without due consideration of the workforce numbering over 16,000 men and women.
He stressed the commitment of labour, especially Maritime Workers' Union of Nigeria, to genuine efforts to sanitize the Ports but warned against calculated attempts to throw them out of works, noting that the effects would be unbearable and go far to weaken the economy which the proponents claim to work hard to strengthen.
Disclosing how he discovered so many loopholes in the country's port concessioning drive when he visited Baltimore Ports in the United States recently, Comrade Irabor restated his resolve to tackle the issues head-on, stressing that before his members would be kicked out, they must be paid off handsomely because they represent a vital segment of stakeholders in the maritime sector.
The MWUN President-General warned that any further arm-twisting of his members would be met by "Operation Zigzag" at the ports, a show of total confusion and near madness at the ports of Nigeria: from Calabar, Warri, Port Harcourt to Lagos. This is the mood of labour in the maritime sector as they hold the first meeting on the Port Reforms with Dr. Okonjo-Iweala in Abuja on Thursday, 14th July, 2005.
Comrade Irabor's outburst was followed by assurances by Comrade Tony Nted, President of Dockworkers Branch of Maritime Workers' Union of Nigeria, that the union would always work within the provisions of the nation's laws and its constitution.
Nted then went on to conduct the election into the new executive of the Dockworkers Branch in Rivers State. Delegates at the Conference re-elected Comrade Waite Harry for a second four-year tenure as a mark of appreciation of the measures and policies that he pursued in his first tenure when he became chairman of Dockworkers Branch of MWUN on September 17, 2001, six months after his election.
Responding to the renewed mandates, Comrade Harry pledged to work for the realization of more secure Ports for profitable business ventures by stakeholders and improved welfare for his members.
He also called on the Ports Management, under Chief Adebayo Sarumi, and the various security agencies to ensure adequate measures for safe operations at all times and used the forum to address a bogus allegation against him by Comrade Sam Accra-Jaja, Rivers State NLA chairman, that he (Harry) had embezzled N300 million meant for workers' salaries.
"I am not a stevedoring contractor nor a bank official, so how can that huge sum of money come into my hands at the Ports? I do not know anything about any N300 million.
Jaja and his agents are just after me because I did not support his quest to be the President-General of MWUN", Com. Harry explained.