Warning Strike Paralyses Activities At Lagos Ports

by Our Reporter

Activities at the Lagos ports and the headquarters of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) were partially grounded recently as senior employees began a two-day warning strike.

Newsday reports that the usual daily transactions and human traffic at the ports were almost absent.
A detachment of policemen was seen keeping surveillance at the NPA headquarters while the security staff at the reception subjected the visitors to unusual scrutiny.
Newsday, however, reports that skeletal services were ongoing at the ports because junior employees were not part of the strike.

Mr Omeiza Umar, President of the Senior Staff Association, had on Wednesday said that the two-day warning strike was to protest against the non-payment of their monetised arrears.
He listed other demands of the workers to include: non-release of the conditions of service jointly agreed on by the association and the management and better welfare packages.
Umar said that members of the association were also protesting against the non-payment of gratuity to those retired between 2008 and 2010.

The association leader also demanded that the 13 NPA staff members, wrongly sacked in 2008, be recalled in line with the directive issued by the Minister of Transport, Alhaji Yusuf Suleiman.
Mr Zeb Ikokide, President, Institute of Freight Forwarders of Nigeria (IFFN), told Newsday that the strike affected activities mainly in the pilotage services.

Ikokide, who is also member of the Berthing Committee, said if the Harbours Department employees could join the strike, it would totally cripple NPA operations as no ship would be able to berth.
``If the Harbours Department refused to join the strike, it would have no effect, but if it joined it, the operations would be affected,'' Ikokide said.

Mr Musa Iliya, the NPA Assistant General Manager, Public Affairs, told Newsday that normal operations were ongoing at the ports, saying that the senior employees were pursuing a ``confrontational” agenda.
Iliya said that all the ports remained opened for business, describing the warning strike as mischievous and a self-serving agenda aimed at creating ill-feelings among a section of the staff of the authority''.

He said that the management had in the past few months engaged the house unions in discussions.
Iliya said that agreements were reached with the association as regard the payment of the 2008 bonus and the implementation of the minimum standard for tally clerks and security personnel.

He said that the agreement included the payment of outstanding severance benefits to the dock workers.
``Major progress has also been made on their request for the payment of arrears of monetised benefits and a new salary package,” Iliya said.

The Lagos State Government has given the committee on the 2008 Ijegun fire disaster conditions for which compensation would be paid to victims.

The chairman of the committee, Rev. Seni Soewi, told Newsday on Thursday that the government was ready to look into the victims' claims, but with a condition.

``The Lagos State Government has accepted to look into the plight of the fire victims but on the condition that we withdraw our suit against it,'' he said.
According to him, the government asked the committee to withdraw the suit before any settlement meeting could hold.

Soewi said the Ministry of Justice on Tuesday commenced the process of withdrawing the suit and that the process, would be concluded by July 26.
He disclosed that a detailed list of victims and the N97 millionproperty lost in the fire had been submitted to the government.

Newsday reports that negotiation between the state government and the committee on the fire disaster commenced in Aug. 2009.

The Ijegun fire disaster which occurred on April 17, 2008 following a spark from a broken pipeline caused by a tractor grading the Ijegun road, claimed more than 20 lives.