Nigeria lost N80bn to dockworkers strike

Lagos State chapter of the Shipper’s Association of Nigeria, SAN, has said that the nation lost about N80 billion to the recent strike embarked upon by the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria, MWUN, which lasted two and a half days.

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Speaking to Vanguard in Lagos, president of the group, Rev. Jonathan Nicol, said Nigerian shippers bear the brunt of any industrial action in the maritime sector by any group of people.

Although Nicol could not give a breakdown of the figure, he said that the amount represents the total sum of revenue derivable from ports across the country.

He explained that from Apapa Port alone, importers take delivery of over 1,000 containers on a daily basis adding that other revenues accruable to the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA, Nigeria Customs Service, NCS, and other government departments amounts to over N8 billion.

Sources from the maritime sector told Vanguard that the Customs nets about N5 billion from its various commands across the country on a daily basis.

For the Nigerian Ports Authority and terminal operators, over N6 billion is generated from the services they provide to importers as container handling, berthing charges and marine pilot services to vessels while NIMASA rakes in about N2 billion from the collection of three percent benchmark rate from all imports and exports.

Also, for ship chandelling services, haulage, trucking storages, warehousing, mooring, and other sundry services, over N50 billion was lost to strike.
Nicol then called on the management of the Nigerian Ports Authority to do all it can avoid such industrial actions as it affects the economy negatively.

He said “Such strike should be avoided in the future as Nigerian shippers are always the target because they pay the bills of all sub-sectors of the industry”.

It will be recalled that the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria, MWUN, embarked on a strike action shutting down shut the nation’s ports due to nine months unpaid wages to over 3,000 Tally Clerks and Onboard security men.