The Nigerian Merchant Navy Officers and Water Transport Senior Staff Association has said that the Maritime Labour Convention (MLC) 2006 is not yet fully domesticated in Nigeria two years after its implementation.
The National President of the association, Engr. Matthew Alalade who disclosed this in a chat with Primetime Reporters in Lagos stated that the ship owners and the manning agents were not fully in conformity with their union even as he said that the government was yet to decide on which agency to regulate the convention.
According to Alalade,”Coming to the convention like the MLC 2006, for the past two years, it is not fully domesticated. The ship owner and the manning agents are not in conformity with the union, the government has not yet decided who are the regulatory agency too. They have not been able to meet the tripartite agreement to work well because if the seafarers are ready, the other sides were not ready despite the fact that they have challenges with their own contract too, they are not getting contract to see to the welfare of the seafarers. But if you look at the feedback, they too are not getting contracts, most of them, their contracts have been revoked, even seafarers in the offshore like the oil and gas sector, they are being affected by the current attacks that they are not able to perform their duties well, the staff are being cut down.
“So, their welfare is being affected and most of our staff are being shortchanged and they reduce their staff too. So, this is not a good omen for us but we pray that the situation will improve in no time”.
He however stated that there is every reason for Nigerian seafarers to celebrate the Day of the Seafarers since it was a global celebration where they take stock of how far government had fared on their welfare.
“So, we have to celebrate that day, mark it one way or the other despite the fact that government supported in a very little way this year compared to what obtained in the past. We were not fully disposed to the arrangement that the government made but we just have to make it”, he said.
On the welfare of the seafarers, the Merchant Navy Officers’ Chief said that seafarers’ problem was not peculiar to Nigeria as it affected other nations of the world adding that there were some developed countries that were still having challenges with their seafarers.
He opined that with the current leadership in the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) which he said had promised that he was going to look into their plight, to domesticate relevant conventions as well as review their salaries, they were hopeful that better days were ahead of them.
On achievement made so far with the annual celebration of the Seafarers’ Day, he said,” The Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) for the seafarers, there will be light at the end of the tunnel. The government is serious about it. In the past years, we have not had any positive action but I believe now from indications, the NJIC-National Joint Industrial Consultative Council will soon come to operation”.
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