Two-Day Port Strike Cost Nigeria N100BN; NPA Apologizes

July 09: The Nigerian Ports Authority NPA has apologized to importers, exporters and other port users for their losses, following a two-day strike embarked upon on the 3rd of July, by dockworkers with the backing of Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN) over the inability of International Oil Companies (IOCs) to pay the wages owed to dockworkers.

According to the Lagos Chamber of Commerce, the Nation and its businessmen lost an estimated N100 billion due to the strike which was called off on Friday, July 5.

However, NPA has assured stakeholders and other users of the port services that such action will not repeat itself.

In a statement released during the weekend, Jatto Adams, the port authority’s General Manager for Corporate and Strategic Communications said “The management of NPA regrets all inconveniences the strike might have caused port users and other stakeholders.

“We, however, promise to ensure that issues that led to the strike are resolved soonest in the national interest and further enhance its mandate to always deliver efficient services for customer satisfaction”.

Meanwhile, MWUN had in a statement signed by its President General, Adewale Adeyanju and the Secretary-General; Felix Akingboye respectively, said it decided to suspend the strike to pave way for discussions and negotiations with concerned stakeholders.

The statement said: “We have noted the grave concerns raised by some major stakeholders in the industry who are not in any way involved in the reason the union embarked on the strike action, which adversely affected their operations.

“[…] We have decided to suspend the strike action pending the outcome of the meeting scheduled to take place next week between the management of NPA, NIMASA, NSC, NNPC and the IOCs with the leadership of the union”

Source: Folio / Doris Ukaonu