Maritime unions under the auspices of the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria and Senior Staff Association of Statutory Corporation and Government-Owned Companies have called for the resuscitation of the tally clerk and gangway security men.
The President-General of MWUN, Adewale Adeyanju, and President of SSASCGOC, Akinola Bodunde, disclosed this during a joint press briefing in Lagos recently.
A tally clerk is someone who keeps a tally of the quantity or weight of goods produced, shipped, or received.
Adeyanju explained that the unions are social partners in the continuous flow of accountable income to the nation.
According to Adeyanju, as a union and social partner in the enterprise of ensuring a continuous flow of accountable income to the nation, “we have continuously called on the relevant authorities to resuscitate the pool of tally clerks and on-board ship gangway security men.”
The MWUN boss emphasised that the presence of this set of people in the ports will strengthen ports’ income inflow through proper and effective documentation keeping of the volume of cargo that comes and goes out of our ports.
The unions also lamented that the absence of Nigerian Ports Authority and the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency staff members in over 150 jetties is a threat to the nation’s security.
The president of SSASCGOC, Bodunde said that the country is losing huge revenue to this inaction by these two agencies.
He affirmed that jetties play a very important role as landing and storage points for goods and services.
According to him, these jetties also dot all nooks and crannies of the country’s littoral charts, “but there is a visible lack of presence of NPA and NIMASA personnel in these places.”
“Over 150 jetties in Nigeria. Some of them you find officers of Nigeria Customs, some no NIMASA or NPA workers there,” he said.
Akinola reiterated that the absence of these categories of personnel has made the jetties become a veritable ground for the perpetration of criminal activities and a haven for economic sabotage.
Meanwhile when contacted, the General Manager, Corporate and Strategic Communications of NPA, Mr Ikechukwu Onyemekara, said he can’t speak on the issue.
The Deputy Head of Public Relations of NIMASA, Edward Osagie, did not respond to the messages sent to him at the time of filing this report.
