…says plans are underway to pay aged seafarers.
The President General (PG) of the Maritime Workers’ Union of Nigeria (MWUN), Comrade Adewale Adeyanju on Monday called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to appoint someone that has the knowledge of maritime as the Minister of Transportation owing to the several problems bedevilling the sector.
Adeyanju who doubles as the 1st Deputy President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), made the call while speaking with some journalists in his office in Lagos.
He said that the industry needed people who know the grey areas of the industry and who can immediately find solutions to them and not a person who will have to take time to learn about the industry.
Making reference to the immediate past Minister of Transportation, Mu’azu Jaji Sambo, he said Sambo hit the ground running because if his vast knowledge of the sector having been an employee’s if the Nigerian Ports Authority and National Inland Waterways Authority at different times
“Our prayer is that they should not appoint cobbler as minister of transportation but that should appoint a technocrat, somebody that knows about the job and not a cobbler.
“We need people who know about the industry, who knows what the stakeholders are passing through and not somebody that will start to learn and has nothing to offer
“When Sambo was appointed, he knew what obtained in the sector and he hit the ground running because he has knowledge of the industry
“He started his maritime career from NPA and from there to NIWA, so he knows about the job. He was not new in port operations. That is why he was very fast because he knew what obtained in the industry.
“I think Mr president will not appoint a novice because he knows what all of us are passing through
“Look at Port Harcourt, look at Warri, nothing is coming from those places. Warri port still remains as an old port, go to Calabar, it has not been dredged, it still the structure of old port. We need somebody that will concentrate on all those places, not somebody that will concentrate only on Lagos ports.
On the issue of aged seafarers, who were disengaged in 1995, he said that verification exercise was ongoing to ascertain those who have died and number of persons alive so that they can be paid.
He added that a committee has been inaugurated which is already carrying out the verification saying another meeting would be held next month to conclude the final verification across all the ports in the country.
“We are on top of the issue of aged seafarers. A committee has been set up by the federal ministry of transportation. They held a meeting last week here in Lagos just to take the number of those who have died and those who are still alive.
“They are meeting again next month for final verification in all the seaports
“It involves the Nigerian Ports Authority, Nigerian Shippers’ Council and the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency
“They are seafarers from 1995. What we are saying is that they should be paid,” he submitted.