The Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN) has said the Federal Government should bring back the tally clerks and the onboard security men to the ports, as the country is losing huge revenue as a result of their absence.
The union said the absence of the onboard security men, also known as gang way security men, has pavd way for illegal activities at the ports
MWUN President-General, Comrade Adewale Adeyanju said aside the country losing billions, the absence of tally clerk is making vessels laden for ports become porous as they are loaded with dangerous cargoes such as trafficking of illicit drugs, arms and ammunitions, as well as give access to stowaways, among others.
He said the job meant for the tally clerks who are supposed to be representative of the government at the ports, is being handled by private hands who have nothing to offer the nation.
“The gang way men should be urgently brought back to the ports in order to curb the influx of illegal activities. The same thing applies to the tally’s clerk. They stand for revenue collection on behalf of the government, as it was before.
“The country is losing huge revenue as a result of tally clerks’ absence at the ports. There are lots of vessels coming in every day. Do you know how much tonnage they bring into the country? There is what we call under-declaration of tonnage. This is because nobody tallies physically anymore. They just present any figure and it is taken. This is wrong. The country is losing billions of naira as a result of this.
“In those days we have ports statisticians who did the tallying but we don’t have such anymore,” he said.
Adeyanju said a large percentage of vessels coming into the Nigeria ports are porous but with the presence of onboard security men and tally clerks, vessels laden with dangerous cargoes could be easily spotted and surveillance placed on the vessels.
“If the government wants to achieve more, they should bring them back. The vessels coming into the Nigerian ports are so porous. Anything can go out and come in. With onboard security men, we will be able to restore security onboard vessels. The Federal Government does not know what is happening in the port. We do know more because we are on standby and receive information from our men on the field. They should be reinstituted so that illicit drugs, dangerous vessels and stowaways don’t come into Nigeria,” he said.
In a related event, the union is set to shut down activities at the AP Moller Terminal (APMT) Apapa, over poor salaries and unfair treatment of workers by the concessionaires.
In a statement jointly signed by Comrade Adeyanju and Secretary General of the union, Felix Akingboye, the leadership of the union said it had engaged the management of the terminal at four different times with each one ending in stalemate.
The union accused APMT of having no regard for its workers, and that the management of the terminal was offering the workers poor remuneration far below the industry standard.
“APMT Nigeria has overwhelmingly exceeded its projected profits and return on investment and our members have been a critical factor to this achievement. We are therefore appalled that your employees (our members) who toil day and night to achieve this height are denied enjoyment of their hard work.
“The leadership of Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria on June 22, 2022 met with the management of APMT Nigeria to discuss the review of the Condition of service (Collective Bargaining) for our members for this fiscal year 2022. This meeting was the fourth in a series of meetings and attempt to resolve the lingering issues raised at negotiation, but like the several others, ended in a stalemate.
“This is as a result of the refusal of the management of APMT to concede to workers’ demand for appropriate and industry compliant increase in their salaries across board.
“The union has long noted that APMT has no iota of regard for the welfare of its employees – Nigeria workers. This is underscored from the ridiculously low salaries and allowance being offered as negotiation, which is far below the industry standard. On this note a seven-day ultimatum was issued, which has since expired,” the statement read.