The Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN) may begin a three-day warning strike today to protest the deplorable state of the access roads to the Lagos seaports.
The national leadership of the union had, last week, directed its members nationwide to shut down operations in all the nation’s ports and begin a three-day warning strike from today.
The union decried the deplorable state of the access roads to Apapa and Tin Can Island ports, alleging that the roads had claimed several lives and wasted incalculable man hours.
MWUN said the warning strike was one of the resolutions of the union at its National Executive Council (NEC) meeting held in Lagos State, last Friday.
According to a communique jointly signed by the MWUN President-General and Secretary-General, Comrade Abdulwaheed Adewale Adeyanju and Felix Akingboye, respectively, MWUN said, “The National Executive Council in-session wishes to draw the attention of the Federal Government, once again, to the deplorable state of the access roads to the Lagos seaports, and the dangers this poses to lives and properties.
“To avoid the continuous and unnecessary deaths as well as a loss of man-hour on the failed roads, the NEC in-session hereby calls on the Federal Government and the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) to urgently fix the access roads and make them motorable.
“The NEC in-session unanimously approves the Central Working Committee’s (CWC) recommendation that the union proceeds on a three-day warning strike to bring to the public space our disappointment over the total neglect of the access roads to Lagos ports by successive governments and the urgent need for government to repair the roads.
“We cannot continue like this. From Second Rainbow to the ports in the last three weeks, it takes not less than five to seven hours to access the ports depending on when you get trapped.
“When you are leaving the ports, you even spend more hours from the ports to the same Second Rainbow. A lot of innocent lives have been lost, many have been maimed by hoodlums who robbed and dispossessed victims of their belongings.
“At the end of the three-day warning strike, the response of government will determine our next line of action.”
The communique noted that the deplorable state of access roads to Lagos ports has not only affected businesses but the revenue of the government.
“Many businesses have relocated out of Apapa and its environs to neighbouring countries because of the failed access roads. The implications are huge to the Nigerian economy and employment creation”, the union said.
The MWUN also decried loss of lives, properties and the health implications of the unending gridlock occasioned by “the total take over of the access roads by heavy-duty trucks”.
The union called on the Federal Government to find a permanent solution to the perennial gridlock along Oshodi-Apapa Expressway.

By: Chinedu Wosu