We'll sustain strike at ports until NPA pays

The Maritime Workers’ Union of Nigeria (MWUN) said there was no going back over its ongoing strike until the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) paid the nine months salary arrears being owed.

President of the Dockworkers Branch of the MWUN, Mr Adewale Adeyanju, stated this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos as maritime activities closed on Friday.

Adeyanju said the NPA had consistently failed to honour previous agreements to pay.

The General Manager, Public Affairs of NPA, Capt. Iheanacho Ebubeogu, however, said the authority planned to pay next week.

He said the delay in payment was due to adherence to procedures of the Treasury Single Account.

In the week under review, the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) embarked on consumer awareness programme to discourage importation of sub-standard goods.

The Director General, SON, Dr Joseph Odumodu, said the awareness exercise included interactions with the public as well as encouraging consumers to always insist on quality products.

Odumodu spoke during the organisation’s 'walk for standards’, titled 'Standards - the World’s Common Language’ to celebrate the 2015 edition of World Standards Day.

He said the exercise was also meant to raise consumers’ awareness on impact of sub-standard goods.

The programme comprised a special facilitation visit to factories, a stakeholders’ forum in Aba and simultaneous walk against sub-standard products in Abuja, Kaduna and Awka.

In the week under review, manufacturers complained about the bureaucratic bottleneck being suffered in the process of clearing goods at the nation’s ports.

The manufacturers spoke under the aegis of Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), at an interactive session with the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS).

The President of MAN, Dr Frank Jacobs, said the delay experienced in the ports had affected the manufacturing industry.

During the week, gunmen attacked and boarded a refrigerated cargo ship off the Niger Delta and kidnapped four crew members.

The pirates reportedly stole cash, destroyed equipment and kidnapped two Lithuanian and two Ukrainian sailors before they escaped.

Also in the week under review, a former President of the Nigerian Association of Master Mariners (NAMM), Capt. Dennis Osah, expressed concern about the dearth of indigenous manpower to run Nigeria’s maritime sector.

The master mariner said the trend had made foreigners to dominate the nation’s maritime sector.

Osah said the authorities had failed to give priority to the quality of training offered in maritime training schools.He said Nigeria had not properly utilised the vast potential of the maritime sector for economic benefits.