Customs Area Comptroller Oyo/Osun Area Command, Mr Temitope Ogunkua showing newsmen some bags of rice seized from smugglers in Ibadan, recently

Protesting members of
the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN) Seamen Branch, at the Federal Ocean Terminal (FOT), Onne Seaport, have embarked on a peaceful protest over an alleged sack of about 200 workers who are members of the union.
The protest paralysed activities of a maritime firm, Sea Truck Company. Irate workers blocked the gate of the company with vehicles to prevent staff and other customers from entering or exiting the premises of the company.
The Tide gathered that about three vehicles were used to block the gate of the company, thereby preventing vehicles from coming in or going out of the premises.
It was also gathered that as the protesting workers blocked the gate of the company, some security personnel attached to the company had forced some union executive to order their members to remove the vehicles or risk being shot, but to no avail as the protesting workers ignored all Police threats.
Our correspondent learnt that the protest was a directive from the President General of the Union, Comrade Tony Nted and other national officers over the sack of 200 maritime workers of the company without due process or dialogue with union executives.
The Tide correspondent further learnt that the union was compelled to take the action because war/sea truck management refused to honour invitation by the union executives to negotiate before any action.
Commenting on the protest, the State Chairman of MWUN, Comrade Jonah Jumbo said they had written to the management of the company twice for a dialogue when the latter sacked the first and second  batches of the workers totalling 130, while they also ignored a dialogue when sacking the third batch of 70 workers without due process.
Jumbo said the directive was from their national body to carry out the protest against  Sea Truck at Onne, stressing that it is a national exercise as similar actions took place simultaneously at the Lagos and Warri officers of the company over the same reasons.
He condemned the approach by the company for refusing to negotiate with the union before any action, adding that they were not against redundancy if things were not going well with the company, but to dialogue on a way forward.
“The company can look at other ways of cutting cost instead of arbitrary sacking Nigerian workers, while they left the expatriates”, he posited.

Collins Barasimeye