ENL Consortium, the operator of Terminals C and D at the Lagos Port Complex in Apapa –has disowned dockworkers who staged a protest at the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) Headquarters in Marina, Lagos over their severance benefits yesterday.
The Legal Adviser of the company, Barrister Uzamot Boye, said that at the time of the protest, its staff members were all at their duty posts inside the port carrying out their various tasks.
“It is malicious to say our dockworkers protested. It is not true. All our workers are at work. Those who protested were those who have since been disengaged from the port and who have been paid their terminal benefits. You can verify this from the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN).
“All our workers are at their duty posts as we speak. They are happy on their jobs. They are all very busy,” Boye said.
He said the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN) would have issued notice and been in the forefront of the protest if the protesters were genuine port workers.
It would be recalled that the same set of people had carried out similar protest in the past at the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) headquarters in Apapa but were told that they had been disengaged from service and due allowance paid to them.
“ENL Consortium is a people-focused organisation. We empower our people and enable them to be the best. Our Executive Vice Chairman/CEO places the welfare of workers above every other consideration,” he said.
The President, Dockworkers Branch of the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN), Comrade Adewale Adeyanju confirmed that the protesting dockworkers have been disengaged from the port and paid their entitlements as stipulated under the National Joint Industrial Council (NJIC) agreement, warning against the return of thugery at the port.
Adeyanju said issues affecting maritime labour must be discussed at the table with employers, rather than the resort to the arm-twisting tactics of the past.
He said the payment of gratuity to disengaged dockworkers happened for the first time in the history of the maritime industry in the country this yea, a development which highlights a big plus for both the union and terminal operators.
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