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By Steve Agbota
Clearing agents operating at the nation’s seaports have lamented huge surcharges accrued by importers at the seaports due to the strike embarked upon by the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC), over minimum wage and hike in electricity Tariff.
Speaking under the aegis of the Africa Association of Professional Freight Forwarders and Logistics of Nigeria (APFFLON), the association said huge amounts of money are lost to demurrage by shipping companies and storage charges by terminal operators.
According to the president of the association, Otunba Frank Ogunojemite, he accused the trade unions of not looking the way of ordinary people who are struggling to survive before taking drastic decisions.
“Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN) joined the nationwide strike in solidarity with the NLC and TUC without considering the implication on the nation’s economy. Shipping companies and terminal operators will not consider a waiver for the number of days the strike lasted, who pays those charges? That amounts to more financial burden on importers. Most of the actions taken by the leaderships of these unions are ill-conceived and anti-people,” he lamented.
According to Ogunojemite, clearing agents and leaderships of all maritime associations should come together to resist NLC and TUC’s incessant calls for industrial actions.
“Freight forwarders should wake up and protect their livelihood, they should save their importers from incurring avoidable demurrage as a result of the strike action. Over 200 billion must have been accrued as demurrage for the two days it lasted,” he predicted.
He continued, “We are disturbed by the level of selfishness the trade unions have been exhibiting over time. Why are they punishing ordinary people by shutting down the power supply? Plunging the nation into darkness does not only affect the government but ordinary people.”
