“I never knew about this anomaly because your branch president was keeping this from me. This matter came to my notice on October 1 when some senior members of NPA came to my house to inform me.”
By Uzor Odigbo
The Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN) under the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) have threatened a shut down of the ports at Onne and Lagos if their salaries are not reviewed upward.
According them, the last time NPA reviewed the workers salary was in 2004.
At a meeting with the NPA Branch of the MWUN on Tuesday, President General of the union said the workers’ salaries have not been reviewed in the past 18 years compared to other agencies including the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) that enjoy steady salary increase and promotion.
Comrade Adeyanju vowed to issue queries to President of the NPA Branch of the Union, his executives and other top level members of the union who failed to intimate him on the subject matter.
At an ongoing meeting of all NPA workers at the union headquarters in Olodi Apapa, Lagos, he vowed that NPA would be made to pay arrears of the 18 years.
“I never knew about this anomaly because your branch president was keeping this from me. This matter came to my notice on October 1 when some senior members of NPA came to my house to inform me.
“Also, members at Onne Port have started grumbling and giving the union ultimatum, or else they are ready to take laws into their own hands.
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“We have supported this management enough, it is now time for them to reward us back by paying our members properly.”
Comrade Adeyanju commended recent steps taken by NPA management on harmonisation of salaries, as well as plans to grant housing grants to workers, he, however, frowned at peanuts being given as salaries.
Consequently, the union announced that it has written to the Managing Director of the NPA, Muhammed Bello-Koko, on October 27, drawing his attention to their concerns.
“All is not well in the NPA, the workers are not being treated well, their salaries are poor, there is stagnation in workers promotion, and we are ready to go all the way with NPA management, we would even shut down the ports.”