MWUN Canvasses Establishment Of Security Posts At Bonded Terminals, Private Jetties

The Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN) has called on the federal government to establish police posts alongside deployment of relevant security agencies to all bonded terminals and jetties across the country in a bid to checkmate nefarious activities of unscrupulous importers.

President General of MWUN, Comrade Adewale Adeyanju who disclosed  this on Monday in Lagos , expressed worries over the recent seizures of  contrabands in some of the off dock facilities,  noted that the influx of such prohibited consignments will continue to increase if the government fails to establish police formations in those terminals for proper scrutiny.

He alleged that contrabands and other illicit drugs will continue to flood the country through the off dock terminals adding that examination of containers should be strictly adhered to in such facilities with the involvement of relevant government agencies on ground before final release.

Adeyanju urged the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) and management of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) to complement operational activities of the customs  to beam searchlights on existing bonded terminals.

“NPA, Police and even NIMASA officials are supposed to be in those facilities to inspect what are coming out of the terminals but its not like that in this country.

“We are appealing to the new MD of NPA to look into those areas and deploy officials to those facilities as well and if they don’t have enough officials,  then management should employ more hands because illegalities will continue to thrive if not checkmated.

On the porous jetties, Adeyanju lamented that with the movement of containers through barge operations, adequate security personnel should be at the receiving end to carry out proper examination to ascertain the contents laden inside the containers.

According to him, the private  jetties should be man by personnel of NPA, police and DSS in furtherance to monitor and enforce compliance, adding that the waterways must not be used for influx of contrabands and dangerous goods into the country.

“Our jetties are porous in terms of security . NPA and NIMASA are not visible in those facilities. Those perpetrators that do not believe in the progress of this country will continue to use that means to make money for self gain.

“They will prefer to use off dock instead of the mother port for negative reasons.

“Government should focus more on these bonded terminals and jetties. We will continue to commend the NDLEA for beaming its searchlights to some of those terminals but the jetties too need serious policing by the government as well.

Continuing, the PG said,”Over the years, NPA has their staff in the jetties and bonded terminals but the situation have changed . “