Train dock workers, others regularly for effeciency, Adeyanju Adewale tells terminal operators

By Genevieve Aningo

As the defender of Maritime workers’ interest, the President General of the Maritime Union Workers of Nigeria (MUWN) Comrade, Adeyanju Adewale has demanded that Apapa Management Terminal and other terminals to professionally train dock workers and other maritime labourers.

Adewale also issued an ultimatum to compel all terminal operators in the country to engage the services of indigenous duly registered dock workers, tarif clarks and onboard security men.

The MUWN president general  gave the directive during the launch of Maritime Labour E- Platform by the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) at APM Administrative office in Apapa, Lagos.

The ceremony was flanked by NIMASA’s Executive Director, Maritime Labour and Cabotage Services, Mr. Victor Ochei who gave the opening remarks and other industry stakeholders.

According to Adeyanju, “ it is the responsibility of the terminal operators who engage them to train them according to the National Joint Industrial Council (NJIC) Act”. Instead of training them they would go to Ghana, Ivory Coast and Cotonou to employ dock workers against responsible trained dock workers of this country.

“The workers here have not been trained to a standard, it is not about giving safety uniforms and boots, what about the training process? How many of them have they trained? This is time for MD NIMASA to wake up and sanction any terminal who has no regard for employees of labour.

“They are making a hell of money to go and develop their own country. The training of the dock workers is very important,we should not allow these multinationals to run away from their responsibilities in the name that they have paid their stevedoring charges. Train your workers for good improvement , that is what the law says”.

Adeyanju also demand that the tally Clarks and onboard security men who makeup an integral part of the dockworkers should be gainfully employed.

“MY Executive Director of NIMASA and Managing Director of Nigerian Ports Authority, The Maritime Union Workers of Nigeria have issued an ultimatum to all the terminal operators that the tally clarks and on board security men duly registered with NIMASA should be engaged by their shipping companies that they are making use of,” he said.

Adeyanju further requested that career path should be enshrined in the NJIC Act to enable maritime workers to switch from a range of occupations such as a forklift driver, truck driver, foreman , operations manager , stevedore , supervisor and others.

“Career paths should be included in our NJIC for all the terminal operators where we can compare with other people in other countries. We can’t remain dockworkers for life and that is the essence of the career path that we are trying to introduce to all the dockworkers across the ports”.

Also speaking, Mr Kayode, the MD of APMT, said the port industry is hinged on moving away from manual processes and embracing digitalization and that is in tandem with the maritime E- platform by NIMASA.

He stressed that maritime dockworkers administration has been undergoing reforms all geared to set Professionalism, standards and digitalization within the industry.

“Between ourselves, the terminal operators, NPA and shippers council, one of the key drivers for the port industry has always been digitalization. We want to move away from a lot of manual processes and I am very happy today that NIMASA is taking queue that dock workers who are working within the maritime space, in the terminals, at jetties at different loading bases that going forward they would be a proper database to identify who is working and at where “.

“This would go a long way to help the entire port system to regulate and control people who come into such a controlled space “.

Representative of NIMASA DG, Mrs Olufumilayo Olotu, ports operations manager, acknowledged that the maritime Labour E-platform would take port operations in Nigeria to a global level and ensure professionalism, orderliness, tracking, facial recognition , voice recognition, improved security, less cargo dual time and quicker town around time for vessels.

She said to sustain the noble initiative, it is imperative to provide avenues for capacity building among the maritime workers.

“We are appealing that with this introduction, adequate preparation would be made for capacity development for Stevedores out there . They are human beings . They are professionals. They should be encouraged in what they do,” Olotu said.

Reacting to the digital initiative by NIMASA, Omoviro Andrew Ogagoghene, a dock worker at APM terminals said, “I want to congratulate NIMASA for this E -platform by taking the biometric of every dock worker . I think it is a good start in the right direction provided that they would be able to carry it on because at times when we have a good thing but to finish has always been a problem”.

Likewise, his colleague Alarape Salami beckoned on NIMASA to engage training programmes for dock workers in order to discourage career stagnation but encourage career progression.

He highlighted, ‘’we should not die as dockworkers , if you are in operations today, there should be a chance that you can be an operations manager tomorrow”.

Below are photos from the event: