Dockworkers raises fresh alarm over collapsing quay aprons at Tin Can Port

President General of the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN) Comrade Adewale Adeyanju has said that the collapsing Quay Aprons and other port infrastructure across the country, especially the Tin Can Island Port, is a death trap to the Dockworkers who are members of the union working inside the port.

Adeyanju stated this during a joint press conference held in Lagos last weekend with the Senior Staff Association of Statutory Corporations and Government Owned Companies (SSASCGOC) at the union secretariat in Lagos, even as he urged the Federal Government to take a decisive action in renovating the ports.

“There are some terminals that we know are not habitable for our members to work in, and we have made some noise over it, recently we heard that the government has approved the renovation of ports across the country, we don’t know how true it is.

“If you go to one particular terminal at the Tin Can Island Port, it is like a death trap for our members working there, we have issued statements in that regard. What is happening at the Tin Can Island Port is nothing to write home about,” Adeyanju lamented.

Recall that in February 2023, the former Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) Mohammed Bello Koko had said that the rehabilitation of Apapa and Tin-Can Island Ports in Lagos, including Onne port in Rivers State and Calabar port in Cross River State would required about $800 million.

The NPA MD said that the money would either come in as a loan or the agency will fund the rehabilitation project which will lead to a reduction of it’s contribution into the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF).

Also in July 2024, the incumbent Managing Director of the NPA, Dr Abubakar Dantsoho paid an unscheduled visit to the Tin Can Port shortly after he was appointed into office by President Tunubu.

He had identified speedy rehabilitation of dilapidated port infrastructure across the nation as his topmost priority.

“With the kind of backing we have from the Honourable Minister of Marine & Blue Economy, His Excellency Adegboyega Oyetola CON, I want to assure stakeholders that the much-talked about reconstruction of Tin Can Ports Complex will move from rhetoric to action,” he remarked.

However, four months after Dantsoho’s visit the MWUN PG said, “I have not seen where any work is currently being done, I have not seen any contractor at any of the terminals.”