By Hauwa Ali
The Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN) has threatened to halt it’s activities of port operations over the dilapidated quay aprons at some of the nation’s seaports as it endangers the lives of labour workers.
The president General of MWUN, Comrade Adewale Adeyanju made this known on Friday in Lagos at a joint press conference with the union and Nigeria Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO).
According to Adeyanju, “injury to one is tantamount to injury to all,” as he reiterates that the lives of labour workers at the affected terminals was at risk.
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NatureNews.Africa reports that a quay apron is the area between the container yard and the waterfront, used to support the loading and discharge of ships. It’s a structure built parallel to the bank of a waterway for use as a landing place. Some Nigerian seaport quays have been built as long as 70yrs ago.
Adeyanju lamented that the union cannot fold its hands for a long period and allow the situation consume some dockworkers before protesting the ugly trends noting that as a responsible and proactive group, there was the need to down tools for government to do the needful.
Recall that Minister of Transportation, Mu’Azu Sambo, who also inspected the dilapidated portion of the Tin Can Island Port quay apron recently, asked Mohammed Bello-Koko, Managing Director of Nigerian Ports Authority NPA, and the engineers to forward the ‘as-built’ plan of the jetty, alongside other documents to his office for immediate action.
Adeyanju noted that the union will continue to prevail on the management of the NPA in furtherance to address the menacing failed infrastructure of the terminals.
The World Bank had ranked Lagos ports 358th out of the 370 ports assessed globally in its Container Port Performance Index 2021,Depicting the poor state of Nigerian ports.
