The Peesident-General, Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN), Comrade Adewale Adeyanju, in this interview with Sunday Ojeme, speaks on challenges in the shipping sector and steps taken to improve workers’ welfare.
How has government policies been affecting the mariritme sector of recent?
It’s affecting us severely. The vessel traffic has gone below the global standard. Vessels that used to come with 500 containers now come with just 100 containers and that has impact on the workers in such a company. The economic impact is coming to the workers because the management will consider the fact that if it can no longer meet with the former standard then some workers would naturally become redundant. So it’s affecting both the workers and the management as well because there is no way the union will impose any serious sanction on them when you too know what is going on. So we need to be fair; it’s give and take.
The ports have been experiencing infrastructure decay for long and government appears not to bother. What’s your take on this?
Yes, it’s appalling. Go to Cotonou here, they are not up to Lagos, look at their port. However with the union making cases all the time, the Minister of Blue Economy has already waded into the matter to enable the country have very good and clean ports.
The port access road was bad for a very long time. Now that it has been fixed are there still things to be done to boost traffic flow?
I don’t know the last time you visited the port. The gridlock has reduced drastically. That is why we commended the Governor of Lagos state who partnered with the Nigerian Ports Authority as well as the local government. So that issue has been reduced drastically. Now if you don’t have anything doing at the port why would you bring your truck on the road. The area we are telling the government to work on now is the influx of people on that same road. People have suddenly turned the road to where they buy and sell. I think the government should intervene and clear the road of these traders. The government and stakeholders should clear the access road leading to the port. The road belongs to the government, so you just can’t impose yourself on the road and turn it into a marketplace. If you want to trade go and get a space inside the market, not a road leading to the port. It is even a shame to us as a country having such a thing on the road leading to the nation’s economic gateway.
The port is where we do international business. It’s not like a local government where you can stand and start giving people tickets. Here vessels are coming in and out. Those people coming in with the vessels are from other countries. When they see such things on our roads what image do you think we are creating in the eyes of international community. So the union is asking the Lagos State Government and the Nigerian Ports Authority to work hand in hand to put an end to the unnecessary influx of people.
What do you have to say about cargo diversion to neighboring countries’ ports?
There is no way one can rule out cargo diversion with the way things are at the moment. It basically has to do with the economic situation we have found ourselves in this country where some people can no longer meet up with the tariff. Some of them prefer Cotonou and other smaller countries where they can easily meet up with the tariff. So if I know your port cannot give me what I want I will simply go to another port. But I think the new Minister is working hard to reform the whole thing to gain the traffic back.
Can you honestly say the tariffs imposed here in Nigeria are justifiable?
It’s not justifiable. They are just using it to scare investors. If I have options to get my business done I will definitely go for the one that is cheaper and enables me meet up. I have to go to the area where the tariff is friendly so I can recoup what I have invested. One bad thing about raising tariff unnecessarily is that it is the consumer that suffers it at the end of the day.
While some organisations including some state governors are resisiting paying N70, 000 as minimum wage, you successfully took your workers’ own to N200, 000. How did you arrive at that?
Well, it can only be God’s grace. It’s something that has been on for decades. It is about what you know to do best because arriving at that decision was not bread and butter. We deliberated with like minds within the industry. Today, we have changed the narrative. The narrative that in the past years where you just go there to work they end up payinh you what they feel you are entitled to.
Now we have a minimum standard. Minimum standard in the sense that any worker coming in to be employed in the maritime sector needs to start from there. That is the benchmark. It’s a matter I met on ground when I came in. It’s part of what has been happening before, my leaders the past president generals and others. I think we invited technocrats, bringing everybody together.
The Honourable Minister of Blue Economy contributed to this success. He gave the directive that the matter should be resolved.
What were the challenges you faced while the negotiation was on?
The challenges were so enormous in the sense that some were paying higher while some others paid below the standard. If you are working with most of all these shipping companies known all over the world there is no way you are going to compare them with those four or five groups of shipping companies having only five or 10 workers. There wasn’t anything like standard because the shipping industry was not regulated. But the new Minister of Blue Economy used his initiative to adopt a standard. You know the dockworkers in the industry have minimum standard. We have agency for seafarers, we have for dockers, and now we have gotten for shipping. So we quarreled with ourselves before we were able to get to this point. Kudos to all the shipping companies who later understood what we were talking about, because in the past, people will work in the industry, retire home with nothing to show for it. It’s like a death sentence. But now, with this new minimum standard, something has been put in place. Not that they didn’t have standard in the past but the real issues that were affecting the life of dockworkers in the industry were not dealt with.
Are you anticipating any form of layoff because of the new minimum wage?
I don’t think we should attribute that to this new agreement. We all know what is going on in the country. The naira trying to marry the dollar but dollar is saying something else. So we are having a lot of issues on downsizing our members. Bear in mind that traffic has reduced, vessels are no longer coming in as it used to be because of the economic situation we have found ourselves. So it has nothing to do with what we have just gotten for the workers. They should not attach that sentiment to the minimum standard. If you have 10 or 15 workers as a small company you know what you were paying them before, we are just saying that you must have some adjustments. That is what we call consequential adjustment, to be at par with those that are being paid higher. So that is another beauty of it and it is binding on all parties.
What is the current situation of aged seafarers, who used to lurk around over non-payment of their pensions?
The situation is better now because the government has intervened. We still give kudos to the Minister of Blue Economy, Oyetola. He is God sent to the maritime sector. He gave directive that they should verify those aged seafarers of the defunct Nigerian National Shipping Lines (NNSL). As I am talking to you now the next thing is to know the total number of those that are alive, those that are dead, and their next of kin. So the union needs to sit with them to sort the whole thing out because this matter has been on for almost 28 years. They only paid them the gratuity but the pension is yet to be paid. So the Minister asked that they should be verified so they will be paid what belongs to them.
