The President General, Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN), Com. (Prince), Adewale Adeyanju – Addressing the Press at the Workers Day Celebration in Abuja.
Q: “A new government is coming on May 29. What are the expectations of Nigerian workers”?
Ans: “The expectation is very high; the outgoing administration has done a lot of things in the lives of workers. We are using this medium to call on the coming administration that they should be more proactive and as well look into the welfare of the workers because the workers that are well enumerated will perform”.
“The workers have suffered a lot in the hands of outgoing government so this coming administration should do better.”
Q: “Industrial relations issues”?
Ans: “The outgoing administration was not visible enough in the port, giving so much authority to the employers of labour who have no regards for the workers in the maritime sector.”
“For example before now we used to have issues of accident victims in the port and throughout the year we have the ministry of labour interfering in the accident that happens in the port, but the way it is now the aspect of having a representative of Labour in the port is no longer there, the terminal operators have taken over responsibility of the judge and the jury”.
“Then look at the issue of local content what does the law of local content says”?
“What Nigerians can do why are you bringing an expatriate to come and take over our job and this is what we are saying that the government must look into the law of local content, where some operators will bring in an accountant from another country, they are so many Nigerians that can do the job better than the foreigners. We are not saying the foreigners should not come and invest in our country but they should respect the law of the land. Impunity is always the order of the day in the maritime sector”.
“You remember the issue of onboard security men and tally clerks that we have been on the matter for the past five to six years and nothing has been done”.
“Also the IOCs who believe in impunity, the minister will give directives and the IOCs will not obey the law so this incoming administration must be visible in the maritime sector”.
Q: “Working Condition of an average maritime worker”?
Ans: “Well I can say it’s about 80 percent because a lot of transformation is taking place in the maritime sector, but we still see some of these foreigners taking the responsibility of Nigerians and we are not satisfied with such level of impunity where workers will be subjected to hardship onboard vessels and even at the terminals”
“We however commend some of the terminal operators who are proactive by empowering the workers. So we can say the local content is not effective”.
“Workers welfare should be the priority of the new coming administration so you don’t sell our ports to foreigners. It is because you met a responsible, transformed, workers that is why we are able to manage the terminals on behalf of the federal government”.
Q: “How will you describe NLC now”?
Ans: “Fantastic”.
Q: “Nation’s Economy”?
Ans: “The new coming administration must be financially prudent because of what is going on in Nigeria”
“You remember what happened by the way of redesigning our naira”.