Maritime Workers To Shut Ports Over Unpaid Salaries --Union

• MD, NPA; Alhaji Habib Abdulahi and • PG, Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria; Comrade Tony Nted Emmanuel

•It’s Because Of TSA, We’ll Pay Next Week ---   NPA

The Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN) yesterday threatened to shut down all the nation’s seaports on Friday, if the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) failed to pay six months outstanding salary arrears to its members.
The President-General of the union, Comrade Tony Nted Emmanuel, gave the threat in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos.
Nted said the workers, including tally clerks and on-board security men were aggrieved over the unpaid salaries.

AS WORK RESUMES TODAY: Truck Owners Say Can’t Guarantee Free Flow Of Traffic On Roads Leading To Lagos Ports, Until…

General Manager; Western Ports of the Nigerian Ports Authority ; Chief Michael Ajayi  ( M) with the Permanent Secretary Lagos State Ministry of Transport; Mr Sewedu Oluseyi Whenu; the General Manager Lagos State Transport Management Authority (LASTMA); Mr Bashir Braimah; and leaders of the  various truckers associations and other government officials after a  recent meeting  to further  find lasting solution to the face-off between the truckers and Lagos state government, at the conference room of NPA Western Ports.

Lagosians who ply the two major access roads into Lagos port and who have had to contend with debilitating traffic as result of the call-off of the strike earlier embarked upon by truck drivers may enjoy no respite, even as work resumes today.
This is because the Association of Maritime Truck Owners (AMATO) has said that unless the Lagos State Government provides the necessary infrastructures such as holding bays for trucks, the traffic gridlock will continue to be a problem on the state highways and the ports access roads.
Shipping Position Daily recalls that motorists had a herculean task approaching Lagos ports last week when truck drivers took over the Apapa end of the Apapa –Oshodi expressway and the Ikorodu road for days, in what their associations described as being caught in the rush to beat the 9pm to 6 am deadline given them by the Lagos state government.

US Embassy Warns Of Likely Boko Haram Attack On Lagos Ports

•        Customs circulates  suspects picture, restricts movement into command

Following a security alert issued by the United States Embassy that members of the dreaded Boko Haram terrorist sect are planning an attack on the port, there has been an unusual increase in the level of security checks at all access to the ports.

‎This is even as the PTML Terminals has banned clearing agents and freight forwarders from seating idle within its terminal.

Ijaw Youths Fault NIMASA Probe Panel On Employment, Promotions

Say agency is on ethnic cleansing agenda

Ijaw youths from Niger Delta continued their attacks on the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency. This time, the youths faulted the setting up of a probe panel by the to review all employments and promotions under Goodluck Jonathan administration.
They condemned recent decision to probe only the tenure of the immediate past Director General of NIMASA, Mr Patrick Akpobolokemi as the Director-General of the agency was suspicious.
The youths, under the aegis of the Ijaw Youth Council Worldwide, in a statement by its spokesman, Mr. Eric Omare, said the suspicion of the Niger Delta people was that the motive of the probe is to sack or unjustly demote employees of NIMASA who are of Niger Delta origin.

Unpaid Debts: AMCON Detains Oil Rig In Lagos

• Ship owners say abandoned rig accrues us$120,000 loss per day
 
Fresh indications have emerged that an oil rig; Oritsejolomi which has been abandoned for about two years on Nigerian waters at Marina Jetty may be losing about US$120,000 per day for sitting  idle.
Investigations by Shipping ?Position Daily revealed that the Nigeria-owned rig was impounded by the Assets Management Company of Nigeria (AMCON) as a result of debts owed a particular first generation bank (names withheld) by its owners.
Even though he could not give the exact amount accruable to the Nigeria Ports Authourity (NPA) daily, General Manager Public Affairs of NPA; Captain Iheanacho Ebubeogu told our correspondent that the oil rig which has become a familiar sight in Marina,  pays some money to the agency every day it sits in the  waters.

At Last, Truck Drivers Shift Grounds, Agrees To Call Off Strike

•NPA appeals to terminal operators to waive demurrage

After almost two weeks of action, truck operators at Lagos seaports yesterday finally agreed to suspend their strike, go back to work and comply with the directive of the Lagos State Government on restriction of movement of their trucks.
A compromise was eventually reached with the truckers after a closed door stakeholders meeting held at the office of the General Manager Western Port of the Nigerian Ports Authority‎ (NPA); Chief Michael Ajayi.
Briefing press men at the end of the meeting, General Manager Public Affairs of NPA, Capt Iheanacho

EFCC Declares Importers Association Chairman; Okereke Wanted For Operating An Illegal Body

 Importers Association Chairman; Okereke

· Charges him  for running ilegal task force on small arms

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has declared the director general of the National Task Force to Combat Illegal Importation of Small Arms, Ammunition, and Light Weapons, (NATFORCE) ; Chief  Emmanuel Osita Okereke, wanted for jumping bail.
Okereke, who is also the chairman of Importers Association and  former presidential aspirant under the platform of the Nigerian Liberation Party,  is being prosecuted by the EFCC on a six-count charge of impersonation, forgery and obtaining by false pretence.