By Victor Ahiuma-Young
There is tension in the nation’s maritime sector , as there are indications that the Federal Government is planning to sack terminal operators, thus putting the jobs of no fewer than 40,000 workers at risk.
Vanguard gathered that only APMT and PTML, out of the 21 terminal operators across the country, may survive the purge because of the type of contract existing between them and the federal government.
Vanguard was informed that the two operators signed a 25-year deal with the government that is still subsisting.
Recall that terminal operators effectively started operations across the nation’s ports in 2006, following the concessioning of the ports in 2005 by the government of former President Olusegun Obasanjo.
The initial 10-year licenses of most terminal operators in Nigeria, operating under the Build, Operate and Transfer, BOT, model, were extended in 2016 for an additional five years.
Since these extensions expired in 2021, the federal government has been reluctant to extend them.
According to sources, the federal government has decided not to renew the agreements with about 19 terminal operators, claiming poor investment and failure to upgrade port infrastructure to global standards as reason.
“The level of investment at the ports is not what the government expected. When you compare our facilities to neighbouring ports, you’ll see that we are lagging behind,” a top official of marine and blue economy ministry said.
However, another source alleged that “those lobbying to bring in their friends and cronies have labelled most of the terminal operators as agents of the opposition party that was in power when their licenses were granted in the first place, hence their services are no longer needed.”
It was alleged that the government plans to hand over most of the terminals to Chinese.
Speaking with Vanguard, President-General of Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria, MWUN, Prince Adewale Adeyanju, warned against government’s move, especially as it would lead to massive job losses.
He said: “Our concern on this matter is the job security of the workers. How to retain their jobs is what is important to us. Jobs security of the workers must be discussed with those coming to take over. Government appointed the terminal operators, it is the government that plans to disengage them.
“However, we cannot fold our arms and allow them to just throw the workers into the job market for no fault of theirs. If the sack goes ahead, it will affect dockworkers, shipping workers and other stakeholders in the maritime sector.
‘’At the minimum, not less than 40,000 workers will lose their jobs. The union is not against the government bringing in new terminal operators, but they must carry the workers along. If they go ahead without considering the job security of the workers, the consequences will be grave for the sector and the country.
‘’We don’t know how these terminal operators got the job. It was the government that appointed them. But the fear in the mind of the workers in the ports now is that what happened during the port’s concession of 2005 before these terminal operators came in is looming.
‘’Before then, they were telling us nobody would lose his or her job, everybody would be well taken care of but the outcome was contrary.
‘’In Nigeria Ports Authority, NPA, and others, we lost about 30,000 of our members. The dockworkers that were affected in the exercise were paid just N200,000 each as terminal benefits at that time. From 2006 till now, these terminal operators, have been in the ports.
‘’There is anxiety, apprehension and even fear of the unknown everywhere in the ports now. In the mind of all the workers in the ports, there is fear of the future. Not only NPA, but also dockworkers, shipping, all the four branches of the union are going to be affected.
“If you say they have not done well, while we do not want to speak for anyone, we can tell you that some of them contributed to the success story of the ports today, especially the indigenous investors. They have done well. They can compete with other global terminal operators. If government wants to review their licenses, let them do it on time.
‘’We are not saying the government should not remove those it considers to be non-performing operators, but they must carry the workers along. The workers are key to the transformation we have seen in the ports.”
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