Over 2,000 former staffers of the defunct Nigerian National Shipping Line have demanded N150bn from the Federal Government as retirement benefits.
The Chairman of the group, Mr Esua Okon, in an exclusive chat with The PUNCH on Saturday in Lagos, said that the group, through their lawyer was proposing N75m for each former worker of the shipping line.
The PUNCH reports that the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria had begun discussions with the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency on how to resolve the lingering issue of terminal benefits of seafarers whose appointments were terminated due to the liquidation of the defunct Nigerian National Shipping Line.
The duo in a statement jointly announced an agreement for physical verification of the affected seafarers/next of kin as the case may apply; the nature of appointment of all affected seafarers, and the exact amount due to each beneficiary.
However, Okon said that the group rejected the N100m offered to affected seafarers by NIMASA.
“We proposed that calculating what we had lost in the wait time and everything, each person should be given N75m and we are over 2,000 affected staff members. Now, we want them to tell us what they can do. But they came up with N100m for everyone, which the MWUN rejected. So, they are waiting till the Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Mr Adegboyega Oyetola’s returns before they can do something else,” he said.
Okon said that between May 2023 and till date, they had lost 10 members due to the frustration and other challenges that come with the retirement benefits.
“We have lost over 100 members due to this issue. From May 2023 till date, we have lost 10 members. So, that is the issue, the struggle continues.
“For 29 years since the liquidation of NNSL by the Federal Government, gratuity, pension and all that have not been paid. In 2007, they gave us peanuts. Some people were given N10, 000, N40, 000 and some were given N100, 000. So, we relaxed thinking that they would do what they were supposed to do. So, since then, we have been struggling to go to Abuja to meet one minister or the other, from one story to another story until this time.
“So, the President General of MWUN, Adewale Adeyanju, was with NIMASA that agreed to give N100m for the retired aged seamen with over 2,000 members. Then, MWUN rejected it because that is the group where we belong and they agreed that when the minister returns, because they are planning to float a new NNSL. So, if the minister returns, they should settle us before they float another shipping line,” Okon explained.
Recall that NIMASA was quoted as saying that the agency had initiated discussions on how to resolve the lingering issue of terminal benefits for seafarers affected by the liquidation of the NNSL.
“The issue of industrial harmony in the maritime sector is of utmost interest to our administration at NIMASA. We have been working on this for a while. NIMASA had offered N100m as a settlement, which the union declined. We have also discovered that some of those demanding settlement did not even have any employment letters,” NIMASA said in a statement.
SOURCE: PUNCHNG
