Maritime : Lagos Assembly brokers truce amidst workers/employers,canvasses out of court settlement

By Lanre Adesanya

The Chairman of the Lagos State House of Assembly Committee on Establishment, Hon. Dayo Famakinwa has waded into the industrial disputes between employers of ENL and the dock workers, counseling that the two parties involved consider out of court settlement as the permanent panacea to the Imbroglio.

Hon. Famakinwa gave the counsel when the Committee invited the feuding parties as well as management of Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA to appear before the House over the allegation that the employers refuse to pay workers for 10years.

According to the spokesman for the dock workers, Mr. Gerald “over 688 workers have left the job since 2015 after they were seriously beaten while demanding for their long overdue salary”.

He claimed that they were thereafter invited to a military zone and given a token of N350,000 as gratuity for 10years of hard work.

Public relations officer to NIMASA, Mrs. Oluyemisi stated that part of the responsibilities of the agency is registration of maritime workers and seafarers and that in a bid to protect the interest of both parties.

“Several meetings have been held with them but to no avail”.

The Committee Chairman reiterated that, the House of Assembly wants to mediate between the dock workers and their employers to withdraw the case from the court of law and toe the line of amicable settlement to expunge bad blood.