The President General, Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN) Comrade Adewale Adeyanju on Tuesday, warned members of the dockworkers branch to desist from any form connivance with drug syndicate at the nation’s seaports, saying the union will not support , tolerate or defend anyone caught in such illegalities .
The President General also reiterated with strong commitment that the union would strategically collaborate with the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) to fish out syndicates involved in such illicit act within the port terminals.
DAILYFOCUS NIGERIA gathered that some of the drug barons have threatened to deal with dockworkers who report such practice to government agencies at the terminals.
Adeyanju while addressing a large number of dockworkers in Lagos, maintained that the union has a name to protect and as such, members must report any suspicious containers to the appropriate quarters in order not to be accused as dealers or syndicates of the illegalities.
The President General also vowed to disband any unit or district linked to any form of connivance with the syndicates urging them to shy away from any form of drug trafficking in port operations.
He also warned winch and crane operators to be watchful and vigilante about the content or nature of consignments they handle while at work,urging them to desist from any cargo that are not assigned for lifting from the vessel to quayside.
He said that the drug barons have a way of involving innocent workers thus members must be extremely careful not to be involved in the trending illegalities.
The labour leader further frowned at some sub stewards lackluster leadership attitude at the ports urging them to be proactive in the line of duties to report any form of illegalities to relevant authorities or the district chairmen of the terminal for onward investigations.
According to him, any one caught in the syndicate chain will face the music alone without the union’ s involvement adding that MWUN has a name and image to protect .
The union leader who commended the Chairman of NDLEA, Buba Marwa for his remarkable achievements since appointment by President Muhammadu Buhari , affirmed that”The MWUN is a system that is bigger than us all and we don’t want our workers to be involved or connive with drug barons.
“You all know Alhaji Buba Marwa,former administrator of Lagos State; he is now the chairman of NDLEA and since he came on board, the man has been doing a good job with remarkable achievements in the area of drug seizures and arrest.
” The NDLEA Chairman has focused his attention to the seaports and I must commend him for the remarkable achievements made so far.
“We will not tolerate anyone caught and using the union’ s name to write statement after we have issued this strong warning to anyone.
“We will not defend anyone involved if caught, the union, branch, district and units will disown that person because we are warning everyone now.
By Roland Ekama
