Ports operations across Nigeria are about to be shut down by workers in the maritime industry over unpaid wages of eight months.
The issue is between the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) and the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN), the dockworkers.
A top management staff of the NPA, when reached via a telephone, admitted there was an issue with the workers, but said it was not something grave enough to warrant shutting down port operations, and could be sorted out.
The workers say from July 21, all ports nationwide would be closed, in what is bound to stop the flow of revenue from the ports to the federal coffers, a development that could worsen the financial difficulty faced by the government.
The Federal Government earns revenue in trillions of naira annually from the ports, arising from exports, imports and the statutory roles of the Nigerian Customs Service, and other related agencies having their operations within the ports.
The NPA is saddled with the responsibility of overseeing operations of the seaports on behalf of the Federal Government.
Some of the ports are Tincan and Apapa Ports, Lagos; Onne Port, Rivers; Warri Ports, Delta, and the Calabar Port in Cross River State.
Although some of the ports had been concessioned to private investors, the NPA remains the landlord and supervises the operations of the concessionaires.
Aside the supervisory role, the NPA also engages certain level of skilled and unskilled labourers numbering over 2,500 through its stevedoring contractors, to facilitate smooth ports operations.
They are called on-board security mentally clerks.
The tally clerks, BusinessDay was told, take inventory of goods being offloaded from vessels at ports across the country.
Nted Emmanuel, president general, MWUN, at a news conference in Lagos, Monday, alleged that for upward of eight months, these categories of workers had not been paid, and every effort to get the management of the NPA to pay attention to them had been unfruitful.
JOSHUA BASSEY
