Stakeholders Express Mixed Reactions Over  MWUN Withdrawal From COMTUA

Mixed reactions have continued to trail the recent membership withdrawal of the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN) from Council of Maritime Truck Union’s and Association (COMTUA), as stakeholders expressed divergent view on the development.

 

A cross section of maritime stakeholders who spoke to DAILYFOCUS NIGERIA on the development, lauded efforts of the President General of MWUN decision to pull out from the collaboration, even as some noted that the backing out of the union would further compound the traffic situation along the port corridors.

 

Some of the maritime players also lamented that the union’s withdrawal might  lead to friction between truckers and the labour workers based on the sharing formulary that have been in existence since the amalgamation.

 

 

According to them, there are indications of high extortion from some of the government agencies on transporters and delay of trucks entry and exit  from the seaports in Lagos .

 

Recall that the union  withdraw its membership from the Council of Maritime Trade Unions and Association (COMTUA)

 

The Union said it  was constrained to take this decision due to breach in agreement as mutually agreed to by all members unions and associations, stipulating collaboration of member unions and associations to stem the negative tide of gridlock on our port access roads and to speak in unison on matters relating to the development of the maritime sector.

Speaking on the development, Managing Director GG Enterprise, Alhaji Inuwa Abdullahi stated that the intention of the amalgamation of truckers and unions was aimed to ameliorate the suffering of stakeholders in the maritime industry.

 

He also commended the leadership of the union for the withdrawal from COMTUA, saying that the collaboration was aimed to speak with one voice and addressing traffic hiccups along the corridor but vested interest scuttled the collaboration.

 

According to him, the mutual understanding at the initial stage of various groups coming together to form COMTUA and the Presidential Task Team on Apapa gridlock yielded positive result but self interest and greed set in to scuttle the objective.

 

Inuwa, who is a member of the Nigerian Association of Road Transport Owners NARTO maintained that ” At the initial stage the marriage was formed with good intentions.

 

“MWUN might have seen something that may likely sabotage the image of their organization and since they have sensed such coming then, there is need to pull out.

 

He recalled that the MWUN singlehandedly put in place the necessary logistics to ensure that the marriage worked out but some bad element are bent to scuttle the progress recorded back then.

 

 

“Everybody knows that the President General of MWUN is a peaceful person. MWUN spent a lot of resources for the collaboration to work out but people from other background are interested for their own purpose.”,Inuwa added.

 

 

Another transporter, Comrade Godwin Ikeji on his part frowned at MWUN’s initial involvement in trucking affairs, saying the mistake made by the union was to enter into such agreement with maritime transporters.

 

Ikeji maintained that MWUN’s jurisdiction was limited to quay side and not the access roads or port corridors adding the amalgamation started on a faulty foundation.

 

According to him, dockworkers are known to be at the terminals and not long the port corridors.

 

 

While speaking about the withdrawal of union membership , President General of MWUN, Comrade Adewale Adeyanju said that the attitude and character of some of the players in the COMTUA amalgamation with government agencies was unfriendly thus the need to pull out.

 

Adeyanju lamented that  lack of understanding on the part of some of the players’ were unfair officials of the government and management of the union deemed it fit for the union to withdraw from the marriage.

 

He said the union is always open to discussion, consultation and dialogue with agencies of the government on issues bothering on traffic but some of the members in COMTUA were not in tune with such approach.

 

By Roland Ekama