Nigerian Seaports Deserted as IOCs, Maritime Workers’ Meeting Deadlocked

The meeting arranged between the International Oil Companies (IOCs) and maritime workers under the aegis of the Maritime Workers' Union of Nigeria (MWUN) by the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) on Wednesday ended in deadlock as both parties could not reach a formal agreement on the payment of all outstanding entitlements being owed the workers by the IOC's.

President-General of MWUN, Adewale Adeyanju, told journalists after the meeting that both parties were unable to reach an agreement due to uncompromising stance.

According to him, "The meeting was deadlocked, so the strike continues."

Adeyanju, who declined to speak further, insisted that the meeting is deadlocked and the strike would continue.

The union shutdown the country's premier port, the Lagos Port Complex in  Apapa as early as 6:00 am on Wednesday, stopping container-laden trucks from accessing or exiting the Apapa port.

The leaders of the union, however, left the port gate at around 10:25a.m. when the Managing Director of NPA, Hadiza Bala Usman, addressed the protesting union leaders at the Apapa port gate, thereby allowing trucks to access and exit the port.

Speaking with journalists after a short meeting with the MWUN leadership, the NPA MD, who was represented by the Executive Director, Marine and Operations, Dr. Sekonte Davies, said the ports authority is in solidarity with the dockworkers over their unpaid entitlement from the IOC’s.

According to him, “You can see the action of the MWUN. It is an action geared towards making sure people obey rules and regulations in this country.

“The Stevedoring contractors were appointed over a year ago.  I think precisely on May 28, 2018, but since last year, the workers have not been paid. “Some of these workers’ children have been out of school for a while due to non-payment of their entitlements by the IOC’s. Some families have even broken up due to this issue."

"So the management of the NPA empathises with the workers over their situation. We empathise with the workers because we are the ones who appointed the Stevedoring contractors.

“However, we are going to sort out the issue because the IOCs, which are majorly recalcitrant in this matter, have started calling for a meeting since the workers began their industrial action."

However, it was gathered that the inability to agree on the total amount to be paid was the major cause of the deadlock.

"The IOCs were not willing to pay all the entitlements at once. This issue has been on for more than a year now, and the entitlements due to the workers cover that period, but the IOCs were willing to upset the payment in tranches, and as a result, the workers won't agree. They want the entire payment of over a year due to them paid. That is the reason for the deadlock, but we hope the reconciliation meeting will continue maybe tomorrow because we cannot afford to have the ports not working," a source at the meeting said.