MWUN Laments Poor Presence Of Government Agencies At Private Jetties, Bonded Terminals 

The Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN) has again raised concerns over the proliferation of private jetties and bonded terminals in Lagos State, Southwest Nigeria, attributing the influx of contrabands and dangerous cargoes into the country through continuous existence of these facilities.

 

President General of MWUN Comrade Adewale Adeyanju, in a chat recently , expressed worries over government negligence on the existence of these facilities adding that lack of regulatory agencies presence at the facilities will contribute to the security challenges bedeviling the country.

 

Adeyanju called on government to deploy officials from the Nigeria Customs Service, Nigerian Ports Authority, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, Standard Organization of Nigeria SON, Department of State Security DSS and others to beam their searchlights on the existence of off dock terminal and private jetties unmanned.

 

He noted that the union will engage the relevant authorities in tackling the unmanned facilities saying the dockworkers have a key role to play in the operational scope of the terminals and jetties.

 

According to him, the bonded terminals are not properly manned by security agencies of the government,adding that dockworkers are supposed to be available in those facilities as part of their responsibilities to monitor the nature of cargoes imported.

 

He stressed that the jetties are not left out of the anomalies in the influx of dangerous cargoes, noting that customs and NPA officials are supposed to be on ground in the waterfronts managed by private entity.

 

While reaffirming the need for proper policing of the facilities, by the federal and state governments, the President General reiterated that: “We have jetties scattered all over the state, how many security personnel of NPA are deployed there . Is there any visible security agencies in those jetties? What is affecting NPA is also affecting NIMASA too.

 

According to him,the dockers have a key role to play in the existence of bonded terminals on cargo examination .

 

 

 

“Customs are all in the off docks and the ports but where is NPA, NIMASA? So this year 2022, both agencies should wake up and employ more Nigerians ,deploy them to those jetties.

 

“On the issue of bonded terminals, truly I don’t know if they should revisit the act establishing the existence of bonded terminals because loading and offloading is the job of dockworkers.

 

 

 

 

“The bonded terminal operators do not allow the dockers to work in their facilities talk less to allow them access into the terminals but we are preparing our papers this year to engage customs and NIMASA because this issue falls under the responsibilities of this two agencies. All the relevant agencies at the seaports are supposed to be there in those facilities to inspect operational activities and see what is going on there.

 

“We don’t know what goes on in those facilities because the presence of regulatory agencies is low.

 

“It’s a private business and we don’t know what are transferred to those facilities. Some importers prefer to transfer consignments to those facilities for personal reasons .

 

He called on government agencies to rise up to the occasion and deploy personnel to the facilities as part of efforts to curb leakages in those areas.

 

“There should be check and balances this year because enough is enough in the area of security and revenue leakages,”Adeyanju stressed.

By Roland Ekama