By Steve Agbota
Pragmatic moves to fix the collapsed quay apron at the Tin Can Island Port and other ports across Nigeria, has been the priority of the new executives of the Senior Staff Association of Statutory Corporations and Government Owned Companies (SSASCGOC), maritime branch.
The union executives who expressed concerns over the dilapidated facility, said its first assignment is to engage the Federal Government through the Ministry of Transportation and management of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) over plans to mend the collapsed quay aprons.
Speaking with newsmen after the 2nd Quadrennial Delegates Conference and election of the new executives in Abuja recently, the newly elected president, Comrade Akinola Bodunde said the collapsed quay apron has made it impossible for ships to berth at the port.
According to him, ships are being diverted to Apapa port because of the bad state of the port in Tin Can Island Port, adding that the union would engage the Ministry of Transportation as well as the National Assembly to take the necessary action to fix the facility.
“Presently, we have issue in Tin Can Island Port, the quay apron is collapsing and because of that, ships cannot easily berth at one of the port terminal . We see some diversions to Apapa and to the new terminal.
“Immediately we assume duty, we are writing a letter to the ministry and copy the National Assembly on the urgent need to repair that place because without the quay apron working, there is no way we can make revenue. If they want us to generate revenue, all the facilities needed to achieve progress is supposed to be put in place.It is our priority to follow it up and we will push the management, push ourselves to Abuja to resolve it,” he added.
He also told journalists that his new assignment is not an easy task saying they have a lot of challenges ahead of them
Comrade Bodunde who was the immediate past General Secretary of the union, commended the management of NPA even as he said the union would partner with the management for better welfare for the workers.
He promised to see the end of the outstanding allowance negotiation for union members with the management.
“It is not an easy task, I know that but with God on our side, we will try our best because we have a lot of challenges ahead of us and I know that with serious commitment by all the executive members, we will be able to push ahead.
“We have a lot of issues and the management has been trying their best, we will partner with them for the welfare of the officers of the organisation. We still have the issue of outstanding of allowances and we are still battling with Salaries and Wages Commission and.our priority is to get to the end of it
“The second one, with the issue of fuel price increase it is a challenge to the workers in Nigeria. We will see how we can partner with our national body to make sure we contribute our own as a union on how to reduce the burden on our workers,” he submitted.
Earlier the immediate president , Comrade Abdullahi Abubakar appealed to federal ministry of transportation and works to expedite actions on the dilapidated quay apron at the ports noting that the Onne port access road has been in comatose thus affecting revenue generation.
Also speaking on the sidelines at the close of the delegate conference, President ,NPA Branch, Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria MWUN, Comrade Ifeanyi Mazeli Edwards noted that the union had engaged and written to the government on the need to fix both Tin Can and Rivers Port, Port Harcourt Area 1.
Mazeli reiterated that some of the ports have been dilapidated right from the concession era and the Unions have raised concerns on the need to improve on them.
“It is not limited to Tin Can Island Port alone, the Port Harcourt port in Rivers State is also affected.We are losing high traffic because of the state of the dilapidated quay apron at the two seaports.
“Certain areas of the quay apron in Port Harcourt is also collapsing too. We wrote to management to raise concerns about the state of the terminals because already some of these facilities have already became obsolete therefore we are calling on management and the ministry to address this issues because it is affecting revenue drive of NPA,”Mazeli reiterated.