Seafarers under the aegis of the Merchant Navy Senior Staff Association of Communication, Transportation and Corporation have called on the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) to review their wages in line with the National Joint Industrial Council (NJIC) agreement.
President of the association, Engr. Matthew Alalade, in a chat in Lagos, said under the NJIC agreement signed by the trade union, shipowners and NIMASA, seafarers’ salaries ought to be reviewed every two years.
He lamented that while the review was not carried out since 2010; recent effort by the trade union to ensure review of the NJIC agreement commenced again in 2016 was frustrated by NIMASA.
He said, “The issue of salary review for seafarers ought to be every two years but this has not been done since 2010. Since then, we have been crying and now NIMASA have heeded to our call to start negotiation, but NIMASA and ship owners have not come out with anything, which is not good for the seafarers.
“We have a tripartite standing committee that we nominated to do the final review and they have come out with their report. But up till now, NIMASA has not been able to come out to stand on its feet on the issue and we don’t know why they are delaying the implementation of the agreement.”