MWUN : NPA Branch President Confident Junior Staff Employment Will Bridge Workforce Gap

By Roland Ekama 

The President of the Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA) branch of the Maritime Workers’ Union of Nigeria (MWUN), Comrade Bamidele Alex Ajayi, has expressed confidence that the planned employment of junior staff will effectively narrow the gap between senior and junior cadres within the workforce.

Speaking to journalists at his office on Wednesday, Ajayi dismissed claims that the union lacks concern for workers’ welfare, stressing that such notions are unfounded.

He highlighted ongoing efforts to address staffing shortages, particularly in managing Nigeria’s over 248 jetties.Ajayi revealed that the union has engaged successive Port Managers (PMs) and the ministry, advocating for increased junior staff recruitment for both economic and security purposes.

According to him, “Before this administration, we wrote letters to management and the minister to highlight the staffing needs,” adding that these efforts have continued under the current President General , who has sent two letters regarding the issue.

He also disclosed that federal government approval for new staff employment has already been secured, though the exact numbers remain confidential.

“We believe a reasonable number has been approved, and that 60 to 70 percent of those employed should be junior staff. This is expected to happen within the next few months,” Ajayi stated.

The NPA Branch President reiterated that the employment of junior cadres will further address issues bothering on unmanned jetties across the littoral states which in turn will address security challenges of the country.

“Those who say the union does not have the interest of the workers at heart is a very wrong notion.

“On our own, before this dispensation, I discussed with the former PG and they wrote a letter to the management and the letter was sent to the minister because in Nigeria today, we have nothing less than 248 jetties in Nigeria today and looking at the NPA, we should have at least two staff to manage each jetty for economic and security purposes

With my findings, I found out that the federal government has approved the employment of staff but I may not want to disclose the figure for now because it is a classified information. I believe a reasonable number has been approved by the federal government for employment.

Our thinking is that if they will employ workers, 60 to 70 percent of the employees should be junior staff and I believe that is what is going to happen and it is going to be in the next few months.