Maritime Worker Down Tools Over Working Conditions
The Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria, MWUN, has directed employees of shipping companies in all ports formations today to begin an indefinite strike over poor wages and dehumanizing working conditions.
The industrial action is also taking place across all dry ports, jetties, terminals across the country.
Dockworkers, Nigerian Ports Authority, NPA, workers and Seamen/Nigerian Inland Water Ways, NIWA and Water Transportation employees will join from tomorrow(Tuesday) in solidarity should the shipping companies fail to address the workers’ grievances.
The Nigerian Shippers Council, NSC, immediately summoned a stakeholders’ meeting in a desperate attempt to resolve the matter and ensure that the industrial crisis does not lead to a total shutdown of the nation’s ports.
Recall that at a briefing Thursday in Lagos, President General of MWUN, Prince Adewale Adeyanju explained that the strike was due to poor remuneration of workers and the refusal of shipping companies operating in Nigeria to agree on a minimum standards for working conditions and remuneration of staff.
Adeyanju lamented that the NSC seemed to have totally lost its control and regulatory powers over the shipping companies who have refused to obey the federal government interventions on the matter.
According to him, the matter had been dragging for the past six years, and the shipping companies have refused to implement a minimum standard for shipping companies’ workers.
According to him, “The former Minister of Transportation, Muazu Sambo had directed the NSC to midwife the process between MWUN and Shipping Association of Nigeria SAN.
NLC Shuns Federal Government Meeting Insist on Reversal of Fuel Prices
The Nigeria Labour Congress on Sunday shunned a meeting called by the Federal Government to discuss the subsidy removal and the resultant hike in fuel pump prices across the country.
The union insisted that it would not hold any dialogue with the government representatives unless a legitimate team was set up.
The Trade Union Congress officialsHowever, attended the meeting which was a follow-up to the talks held with the NLC at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, last week.
The National Treasurer of the NLC, Hakeem Ambali, confirmed the decision of the union to boycott the meeting stating that the union did not attend the talks because the government representatives had no official mandate or authority to negotiate for the President.
“It was an adjourned meeting, a follow-up to the last one. However, the NLC insisted that we would be ready to negotiate with a team that has legitimacy and official mandate to negotiate for President Tinubu,” he stated.
Shedding light on the NLC’s boycott of the session, the National President of the congress, Joe Ajaero, contended that the meeting was of no consequence to the congress.
IGP Promotes 31,465 Inspectors, Rank And File
The Inspector-General of Police, IGP Usman Alkali Baba, psc(+), NPM, NEAPS, fdc, CFR, as part of his manpower development policy targeted at promoting deserving police officers on the basis of competence, qualification, and length of service, has promoted a total of Thirty-One Thousand, Four Hundred and Sixty-Five (31,465) policemen comprising 24,991 from Sergeants to Inspectors, 194 from Corporal to Sergeant, and 6,280 from Constable to Corporal.
The IGP has however charged the affected officers to add more pep in promoting the lofty principles and values of modern policing and discharge their duties as expected of them in line with the provisions of the extant laws. Similarly, the IGP congratulates two Assistant Inspectors-General of Police on the conferment of national honours on them.
The very senior police officers include AIG Aishatu Abubakar, mni who was conferred with the award of Officer of the Order of the Niger (OON), and AIG Olofu Tony Adejoh, who was conferred with the individual award of National Productivity Order of Merit Award (NPOM) by the National Productivity Centre, Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment on the approval of the immediate past President.
The Inspector-General of Police charges the Senior Officers to bring their experience gathered over time and the well-deserved national recognition to bear in their national policing duties.
CSP OLUMUYIWA ADEJOBI, mnipr, mipra,
FORCE PUBLIC RELATIONS OFFICER,
FORCE HEADQUARTERS, ABUJA.
June 1, 2023