Dockworkers, Maritime Staff Plan Protest

Members of Unions operating within the Ports in the State, the Docks Workers Union and the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria are planning protest over moves by the National Assembly to give legal backing to the establishment of an agency similar to the Nigerian Maritime, Administration and safety Agency (NIMASA).

Speaking to The Tide, Chairman of the Docks Workers Union at Onne Federal Ocean Terminal and Federal Ocean lighter Terminal, Comrade Friday Okereke said the unions are against the proposed bill before the National Assembly.

He said the creation of another federal agency within the ports alongside the existing Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) will ultimately create friction and duplication of functions within the ports system.

Similarly, the Secretary General of the Maritime Workers, Comrade Afam Ubani said members of the affiliate unions will continue to resist any move by the National Assembly to establish an agency similar to NIMASA within the ports across Nigeria.

He said such establishment of another maritime security agency would duplicate the jobs of the existing agency including the Marine Police and Nigerian Navy at the ports.

The Secretary General urged Nigerians to prevail on the leadership of the National Assembly not to pass the proposed bill, noting that the bill will amount to creating a paralled agency to the existing one within the nation’s ports.

The Union’s scribe said that the National Assembly must halt the proposed controversial bill in the overall interest of the nation’s economy, stressing that such move will result in additional cost on the government and maritime operators.

Comrade Ubani further said the maritime workers reject the proposed bill before the National Assembly on the grounds that the authority, functions and financing of the proposed agency was a total duplication of an existing federal agency in the ports.

Philip Okparaji