Workers Union Threatens To Shut Down All Sea Ports In Nigeria

The Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN) have said that they will shutdown all seaports in the country because of the Ports and Harbours Bill which has passed second reading in the House of Representatives. They deplored that if the bill is passed into law it would cause the joblessness of thousands of stakeholders in the maritime industry. They further said that due consultation was not followed by those who sponsored the bill. Comrade Adewale Adeyanju, who is the President General of MWUN spoke to the Business and Maritime West Africa that all ports across the country will be shutdown, saying that the bill was anti-union and anti-people and therefore, the senior staff and junior staff unions in the maritime sector would jointly embark in a protest. He said that the Nigerian Ports Authority would be handicapped in its responsibilities once the bill is passed into law and also that national security would be compromised. Adeyanju further stressed that the protest will be peaceful and devoid of violence.Although the bill has passed second reading, the union’s president general expressed displeasure for not being consulted before the bill was drafted. He said: “Habour operations worldwide is exclusive to the government and Nigeria should not be an exception. The import of the bill is to cede harbour operations to private individuals and we are bold to say that there is nowhere in the world where this is done because of the security implications. Habour operations all over the world is the exclusive preserve of the government as a major foreign exchange earner to the government and therefore cannot be compromised by this bill through ceding to private operators”, the union frontman stated. He made emphasis on the need to destroy the bill and lamented that if the bill is passed into law, it will cause harm to the workforce. Photo Credit:Getty

Leave a Reply