By Foster Obi

The recent threat to ground all seaports across the country by the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN) due to total refusal by the International Oil Companies (IOCs) to obey the nation’s laws, has again brought to the front burner, the activities of multinationals in Nigeria that behave like Lord of Manor.

Unlike most sovereign countries, the parlous state of the Nigeria economy has made it easy for multinational investors to operate in the country, take money and exit without caring about the well being of the citizens.

Severally the Niger Delta militants have carried arms because of the level of environmental pollution that take place in the area due to activities of IOCs there.

Yet these companies care less about the indigenes but humiliate them at the slightest opportunity.

Over the years it has become evident that these IOC’s have their body here, while their heart is overseas.

This is why they despise Nigerians, maltreat them in their own country and pay them miserly wages as opposed to the so called expatriates they import.

Research shows that most of these expatriates are in no way better than Nigerians.

The worrisome part is that some highly placed Nigerians and government officials collaborate with them to humiliate their own people because of filthy lucre.

Recently, the Minister, Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio explained moves by the Federal Government to give legal teeth to deal with any of the IOCs that fail in its statutory obligation to oil-producing communities.

The Minister made this disclosure during an interactive session with members of “Course 15 Executive Intelligence Participants of the National Institute for Security Studies” (NISS), at the Minister’s office recently in Abuja.

The Executive Secretary, Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board, Simbi Wabote, has also faulted some International Oil Companies who are operating in Nigeria but taking their jobs to China to cut costs.

According to him, this is coming despite the creation of a $400m intervention fund for the oil and gas sector.

“What I see from where I see is a constant battle with some of the IOCs who believe that the only place to carry out their work must be China and not Nigeria” he noted

The MWUN is a group that believes the IOCs should be made to comply with the laws of the land as obtained in any sane economy.

In a letter it addressed recently to the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, the union had threatened to embark on an indefinite strike, effective March 1, 2022 over the IOCs non-compliance with the extant stevedoring regulations, otherwise known as Government Marine Notice 106 of 2014.

The union alleged that the IOCs had ignored the minister’s directives and other top stakeholders, including the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), that they should allow stevedoring companies access to their platforms to commence operations.

The union said the directive issued since last year, was supposed to enable the registered dockworkers, along with the appointed and deployed stevedoring companies, to operate in the IOCs platforms.

However, it said up till now, the IOCs have bluntly refused the appointed and deployed stevedoring companies to commence operations and has thus deprived its members (dockworkers) in the employ of the stevedoring companies to work and earn a living.

According to MWUN, the action of the IOCs is a sharp contravention of the provisions of Government Marine Notice 106 of 2014.

The union said despite previous notices, strike warnings and intervention by the NPA to prevail on the IOCs to comply with the law, it has not yielded any positive result as they have remained recalcitrant.

In view of the foregoing, the union said government is hereby placed on notice to the effect that it would embark on indefinite strike action in all the nation’s seaports with effect from Tuesday, 1st March 2022 if before then the IOCs are not compelled by the appropriate authority to comply with the directive in this regard.

But the strike could not take place due to the intervention of major stakeholders.

The union, in a press release issued Monday, said it decided to temporarily shelve the industrial action due to the intervention of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), the Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC) and the pleas by well meaning Nigerians.

The statement signed by the union’s President-General, Comrade Adewale Adeyanju and Secretary-General, Comrade Felix Akingboye was expressive.

Knowing how adamant the multinationals are when dealing with the citizens especially because of Nigerian collaborators, some stakeholders believe that the IOCs will not change their policy on dockworkers and may want to buy time to frustrate the process.

However knowing that the Adewale Adeyanju led group will stop at nothing to secure the welfare of these workers, it now becomes a case of who blinks first between IOCs and MWUN. Time will surely tell.

Picture: Comrade Adewale Adeyanju, President General, Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria

FOSTER OBI is Editor, DFCNewsng.com