Hope rises on payment of NNSL retirees’ pensions

 

Maureen Aguta

 

As the Federal Government and the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN) conclude verification of the disengaged seafarers of the defunct Nigerian National Shipping Line (NNSL), after 28-years of liquidation of the national carrier, the President General of MWUN, Prince Adewale Adeyanju has disclosed that payment of the pensions of the disengaged seafarers would commence in no distant time.

Prince Adeyanju dropped this hint at the Association of Maritime Journalist of Nigeria (AMJON) training workshop held in collaboration with the School of Eloquence at the school’s premises in Ikoyi Lagos, last Friday.

Represented by the Deputy President General of MWUN, Comrade Harry Tonye; Prince Adeyanju stated that the union will leave no stone unturned to ensure that the disengaged seafarers get their due pension. He did not however, gave the exact date when the aged seafarers will receive their pensions.

Comrade Adeyanju took the journalists on the rudiments of the operations union and its duties to the workers, saying the Nigerian port industry continues to stable peace because of Collective Bargaining Agreement strategy put in place to ensure that workers are paid living wage. He disclosed that the agreement is reviewed every two years. “The good thing about it is that if there is anything that was not captured in the agreement, one can patiently wait for the next two years for it be addressed,” he said.

 

Also, speaking at the training, the Dean of School of Eloquence, Mr. Ubong Essien has tasked journalists to explore and unearth potentials in the Marine and Blue Economy in their reportage.

Essien , who was a former Special Adviser on Media and Strategy to the immediate past Director General, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) Dr. Bashir Jamoh , called on the media practitioners to create wealth for themselves through effective and quality reportage about the Marine and Blue Economy , saying that the sector was under-reported by journalists.

Speaking further on the multiple advantages on the sector, the media mogul reiterated that the maritime industry is not limited to the ocean or ships, maintaining that the blue economy is vast to the extent that a journalist can choose to specialize on a segment and get the desired relevancy to create wealth.

According to him, journalists can specialise on any given subsector within the industry, improve on it and create wealth from it.

While commending AMJON for the innovation, the Dean stressed that the school is open for partnership in the area of capacity building for members adding that journalists must equip themselves with modern day technologies like use of social media, Artificial Intelligence, Google etc to create the needed awareness for the Marine and Blue Economy growth.

He further described journalism and the legal practitioners as noble professions which in turn has the capacity to enlighten the public about new innovations, thus the professionals must be strategic while engaging critical stakeholders for nation building and economic development.

He also appealed to members of the association to prioritize capacity building as a veritable tool to gain more knowledge.

Describing”knowledge as power”, Essien stated that training and retraining of members of AMJON is a clear indication of wealth creation urging them not to relent in pursuit of academic abilities and upscaling of their knowledge base.

Resource persons from the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Maritime Workers’ Union of Nigeria (MWUN) and School of Eloquence put the journalists through on the right terminologies on their reportage and publications in line with ethics of the profession.

Among the team of MWUN at the training were, Comrade Harry Tonye , Head of Media MWUN, Comrade Oniha Odigie and Comrade Kennedy Ikemefuna

The National Public Relations Officer (NPRO), Abdullahi Aliyu Maiwada was represented by the Customs Public Relations Officer, Lagos Free Zone, Superintendent of Customs Abdullahi Lagos.

The one day training workshop also had a technical session with paper presentation by a Software Engineer and ICT Consultant, Victor Ijezie, who enlightened the participants with topics surrounding “how to create wealth from online media platforms.”

The AMJON Training Workshop is an annual event that aims to update participant on modern trends in the maritime industry and media.