The Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria has withdrawn its threat to shut down the nation’s seaports over the Federal Government’s inability to repair the failed portions of roads leading to the ports.
The union had last week issued a seven-day ultimatum to the government requesting it to remove abandoned trucks on the Oshodi-Apapa Expressway, failure of which members would embark on an indefinite strike beginning Tuesday.
The President-General, MWUN, Adewale Adeyanju, said the Federal Government had intervened in the situation, prompting the union to rescind its threatened action.
Adeyanju said the government had called for an enlarged meeting with other industry stakeholders to find a lasting solution to the dilapidated port roads.
He stated, “The Federal Government has contacted us, requesting a meeting with all the stakeholders in the maritime sector, including the Federal ministries of Transportation, Labour, and Power, Works and Housing.
“The Minister of Labour has intervened and sent a letter to us last week; we are only waiting for the date of the enlarged stakeholders’ meeting to be announced.”
He added, “We are a responsible labour organisation and the interest of the country must be in our heart all the time. What we are saying is that they should do palliative work, while the other rehabilitation work is going on.
“They should remove all those trucks from the roads because it’s not every time they are lifting fuel or moving containers from the ports. They have turned the roads to mechanic workshops. When their trucks breakdown on the roads, that is where they will repair them; so, we ask what the Federal Ministry of Power, Works and Housing is doing as the owner of the roads? That is our concern.”
– Source: The Punch, February 5, 2018
