By Our Correspondent
Lagos, March 3, ’25 (TNZ) The Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Bashir Adeniyi, has appealed to the Maritime Workers’ Union of Nigeria (MWUN) to embrace dialogue and halt their planned strike.
TheNewsZenith reports that Adeniyi made this appeal when his team visited the union’s headquarters in Lagos.
The Customs Area Controller, Apapa Customs Command, Comptroller Babatunde Olomu, represented Adeniyi.
He acknowledged the contributions of the maritime workers in the ports. Adeniyi noted that they contributed more than 50 per cent of the NCS’s total revenue generation.
The CG said he had engaged port operators on the challenges facing maritime workers.
This was to provide sustainable solutions, recognising the strategic role they play in revenue generation.
“Interestingly, the NCS surpassed its revenue target of N6.1 trillion for the Federal Government in 2024.
“This is all thanks to the seamless operations of all the maritime workers and port users.
“We cannot achieve much without your input.
“This is why we intervened on all the issues to avoid demurrage and make Nigeria a preferred destination for cargo clearance across Africa,” TheNewsZenith quotes the CG as saying.
He pleaded with the union to reconsider and suspend their proposed strike.
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Responding, the MWUN National President, Dr Adewale Adeyanju, commended President Bola Tinubu for appointing a grassroots person to head the NCS.
Adeyanju pledged the union’s continuous support to enable NCS achieve the 2025 revenue target of N12 trillion.
“I want to assure the Comptroller-General of Customs that the union is no longer going on strike. We want to establish a ‘marriage of convenience’ with all port operators.
“We will follow due process as we want the government to address our challenges holistically.
“MWUN is not saying that the government should not introduce a task force.
“Rather, the government should create awareness to enable truck owners vacate the parking spaces they occupied,” TheNewsZenith quotes Adeyanju as saying.
Also speaking, Chief Remi Ogungbemi, the President of the Association of Maritime Truck Owners (AMATO), commended the role of NCS in port development.
“Before now, we used to clash with the Customs over cargo interception outside the ports.
“But through training, we have understood that the interceptions are often caused by clearing agents due to under-declaration of consignments.
“Most of our trucks are rickety because the money for repairs is spent on settling various issues,” Ogungbemi said. (TNZ)
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