Maritime Labour and Trade Union
WABOTAN Reaffirms Commitment to Payment of Maritime Workers’ Union Dues, Calls for Collaborative Approach to ensure Waterways Safety
WABOTAN Reaffirms Commitment to Payment of Maritime Workers’ Union Dues, Calls for Collaborative Approach to ensure Waterways Safety
Boat owners association pledges continued remittance of workers’ union dues while advocating for enhanced safety measures on Nigeria’s inland waterways
The Waterfront Boat Owners and Transporters Association of Nigeria (WABOTAN) has reaffirmed its commitment to remitting boat workers’ union check-off dues to the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria, while calling for a comprehensive approach to addressing safety challenges on the nation’s inland waterways.
The commitment was reiterated during a strategic meeting held on August 14, 2025, at WABOTAN’s national secretariat, bringing together the association’s Think-Tank committee and representatives from the Lagos Commercial Private Boat District of the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria.
Speaking at the meeting, WABOTAN National President Mr. Babatope Fajemirokun emphasized the urgent need for collective action in addressing waterways safety challenges.
“It’s time to set the records straight in the Nigerian inland waterways of the nation,” Fajemirokun stated. “In the midst of these boat mishaps happening all around our waterways, there should be a point where we all take the necessary steps to ensure safety on our waterways.”
The meeting represents a continuation of collaborative efforts that began in May 2025, when WABOTAN’s National Executive Council paid a courtesy visit to the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria’s national secretariat for discussions with President General Comrade Francis Bunu and other national executives.
The association’s renewed commitment comes as the federal government implements recommendations from a special committee on boat accidents established by the Honourable Minister of Marine and Blue Economy.
“On the submission of the committee report, the federal government is playing their part in curbing this ugly trend on the nation’s waterways, and the private sector must also play their roles,” Fajemirokun explained.
The WABOTAN president stressed that while associations advocate for reduced operational costs, equal attention must be paid to workers’ welfare, highlighting the crucial role of workers’ unions as the voice of maritime workers.
Fajemirokun outlined a vision for enhanced collaboration between three key stakeholders: regulatory agencies, private sector operators, and workers’ unions.
“We must jointly collaborate with the regulatory agencies, the private sector, and our workers’ union, who are the voices of the workers, to secure the waterways,” he emphasized.
A significant portion of the discussion focused on the critical need for continuous training and retraining of boat workers, with particular emphasis on making essential licensing and certifications more accessible and affordable. Fajemirokun called on the Managing Director of the Nigerian Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) to establish a tripartite committee comprising the authority, operators, and the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria.
This proposed committee would specifically address training and retraining programs for inland waterways boat workers, including the development of affordable certification pathways that would not burden operators with excessive costs while ensuring proper skill development.
“We cannot compromise on safety, but we also recognize that expensive licensing requirements can create barriers for our workers and small-scale operators,” Fajemirokun noted. “We need certification programs that are both comprehensive and economically viable for our maritime workforce.”
The focus on affordable licensing and certification represents a recognition that safety improvements must be economically sustainable for the predominantly small-scale operators who dominate Nigeria’s inland waterways sector.
“When we make professional development affordable and accessible, we create a culture of continuous improvement that benefits everyone – workers, operators, passengers, and the entire maritime industry,” Fajemirokun emphasized.
This proposed approach to training and certification represents a proactive strategy to prevent accidents through improved human capacity while ensuring that cost considerations do not become barriers to professional development in the maritime sector.
The meeting and subsequent commitments signal a maturing approach to waterways management in Nigeria, where stakeholders are moving beyond individual interests toward collective responsibility for safety and operational excellence.
The collaboration between WABOTAN and the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria demonstrates recognition that sustainable waterways operations require balancing business interests with worker welfare and safety standards, while ensuring that professional development opportunities remain within reach of the maritime workforce. As Nigeria continues to develop its blue economy potential, such partnerships between operators, unions, and regulatory bodies may serve as a model for other maritime sectors seeking to enhance safety while maintaining operational viability through affordable and accessible professional development programs.
NIMASA Trains 2,459 Cadets, Secures 150% Wage Rise for Nigerian Seafarers — Mobereola
By Ighoyota Onaibre | Waterways News
The Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) has declared seafarer welfare, safety and professional development as central priorities of its current agenda, with the agency’s Director-General, Dr. Dayo Mobereola, disclosing landmark gains in cadet training and earnings improvement as Nigeria marked the 2026 Day of the Seafarer in Lagos on Thursday.
Addressing maritime stakeholders at the event, Mobereola announced that NIMASA has trained 2,459 Nigerian cadets under the Nigerian Seafarers Development Programme (NSDP), with a significant number still undergoing training at maritime institutions across the world. The disclosure underlines the agency’s sustained push to build a pipeline of internationally competitive Nigerian seafarers capable of serving on vessels in the global merchant fleet.
The NIMASA chief also revealed a major breakthrough on seafarer remuneration. The National Joint Industrial Council (NJIC), he said, has formally adopted the wage scale endorsed by the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) and the International Labour Organisation (ILO) into the conditions of service for Nigerian seafarers — producing a wage increase of more than 150 per cent. The development marks one of the most consequential improvements in Nigerian seafarer earnings in recent memory and directly aligns domestic conditions with internationally recognised standards.
Speaking to the 2026 theme, “Carrying World Trade, Carrying the Risk,” Mobereola underscored the outsized contribution of seafarers to global commerce, noting that more than 80 per cent of global trade by volume and over 70 per cent by value moves by sea, sustained by approximately two million seafarers manning the world’s merchant fleet. He stressed that beyond cargo movement, seafarers contend daily with unpredictable weather, security threats, geopolitical instability and prolonged family separation — risks that rarely receive sufficient public acknowledgement.
“Today, we stand in solidarity with the global maritime community to pay tribute to an extraordinary cadre of professionals whose dedication, courage and resilience form the bedrock of international trade and global prosperity,” he stated.
Mobereola said NIMASA’s commitment to seafarers goes beyond regulatory duty, framing it as both a moral obligation and a strategic investment in the sector’s long-term resilience. He pointed to ongoing work on Maritime Labour Convention (MLC) 2006 compliance as a mechanism for guaranteeing decent working conditions, alongside continued investment in certification and sea-time opportunities. He also called for broader collaboration across governments, maritime administrations, shipowners, training institutions and labour unions to build a maritime ecosystem that puts safety, dignity and professional excellence at its core.
Also speaking, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Marine Transport, Senator Wasiu Eshinlokun-Sanni, pledged the National Assembly’s continued legislative backing for policies aimed at strengthening Nigeria’s maritime sector and improving seafarer welfare. The senator stressed the need for expanded investment in maritime education, certification and professional development to sharpen the competitiveness of Nigerian seafarers in the international labour market.
The event brought together maritime regulators, industry operators, labour representatives and seafarers to mark the occasion.
Nigeria Watch
Thursday’s Day of the Seafarer celebrations carried a weight beyond ceremony. The twin announcements from NIMASA — 2,459 cadets in the NSDP pipeline and a 150 per cent wage increase secured through the NJIC’s adoption of ITF/ILO wage scales — represent concrete, measurable progress on two of the most persistent pressure points in Nigerian seafarer development: the quantity of trained personnel entering the workforce and the quality of conditions awaiting them.
The wage development deserves particular attention. For years, Nigerian seafarers working on vessels governed by ITF-negotiated collective bargaining agreements have operated under conditions where the gap between international wage benchmarks and actual domestic pay structures created both financial hardship and reputational friction for Nigeria’s maritime labour market. The formal adoption of the ITF/ILO scale into NJIC conditions of service is a structural correction, not merely a gesture — and it comes at a moment when the Strait of Hormuz crisis has dramatically highlighted the risk premium attached to seafaring, reinforcing the moral and commercial case for competitive pay.
For NIMASA, the NSDP remains the cornerstone of Nigeria’s long-term seafarer supply strategy, and the 2,459 figure is a credible indicator of scale. However, the programme’s ultimate value will be measured not by enrolment numbers but by the rate at which trained cadets complete sea-time placements, obtain STCW certifications and gain employment on international vessels. The persistent challenge of securing sufficient shipboard berths for Nigerian cadets — particularly on vessels operated by foreign shipowners with no particular obligation to take Nigerian trainees — remains an area where NIMASA’s advocacy with the Federal Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy and with international shipping organisations needs sustained attention.
Senator Eshinlokun-Sanni’s assurances of legislative support are timely. The National Assembly’s role in providing the fiscal and regulatory architecture for seafarer development — through the Cabotage Vessel Financing Fund, through port concession frameworks that incentivise indigenous vessel ownership and through oversight of NIMASA’s budget — is consequential and often underappreciated in public discourse. That a Senate committee chair chose to appear at a seafarers’ day event and commit to specific legislative priorities is a positive signal, though stakeholders will watch for legislative follow-through on maritime education funding and MLC implementation in the months ahead.
Nigeria’s blue economy ambitions cannot be realised without a competitive, well-paid and professionally respected seafarer workforce. Thursday’s celebrations offered evidence that the building blocks are being assembled — slowly, but with increasing intentionality.
Waterways News | www.waterwaysnews.ng
Editor's Choice
Adeyanju Sounds Alarm Over Dying, Impoverished Retired Seafarers as Pension Backlog Festers
Adeyanju Sounds Alarm Over Dying, Impoverished Retired Seafarers as Pension Backlog Festers
By Emetena Ikuku | Waterways News
Comrade Adewale Adeyanju, Deputy President of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) and former President-General of the Maritime Workers’ Union of Nigeria (MWUN), has raised a fresh and urgent alarm over the prolonged failure to pay pension benefits and outstanding entitlements owed to retired Nigerian seafarers, warning that the delay has become a matter of life and death.
Speaking on the occasion of the 2026 Day of the Seafarer, Adeyanju said that many of the beneficiaries who participated in a verification exercise conducted at the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) quarters in Bode Thomas, Lagos — nearly four years ago, under his own tenure as MWUN President-General — have since died waiting for their money. Others, he said, are gravely ill and incapacitated, while survivors continue to endure conditions of abject poverty. He made an impassioned appeal to the federal government to honour its obligations without further delay, stressing the moral imperative of restoring dignity to men and women who dedicated their working lives to serving the nation at sea.
Adeyanju used the occasion to acknowledge the broader global context in which this year’s seafarer commemoration falls. Aligning his remarks with the International Maritime Organisation’s 2026 theme — “Carrying World Trade. Carrying The Risks” — he noted that this year has proven exceptionally dangerous for seafarers, with armed conflicts, particularly those disrupting the Strait of Hormuz shipping corridor, exposing mariners to unprecedented hazards. He praised their courage and continued commitment to keeping global trade moving despite those elevated risks.
On domestic maritime policy, Adeyanju commended the Minister of Marine and Blue Economy for ongoing port transformation efforts, but called for the reinstatement of onboard gangway men on berthed vessels at Nigerian ports. He described gangway men as the “eagle eyes” guarding ships at quay aprons, playing a critical role in deterring theft and economic sabotage — a function he said cannot be allowed to lapse.
He also turned his attention to the Nigerian Maritime Academy, Oron, which he characterised as “a vehicle without an engine,” expressing deep concern that graduates are leaving the institution without proper certification and with little or no access to sea time — the practical shipboard experience essential for career progression under international standards. He called on the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) to intervene decisively to ensure that MAN Oron graduates are fully certificated and employment-ready upon completion of their programmes.
Adeyanju concluded his remarks by acknowledging the resilience of maritime employers and practitioners navigating difficult operating conditions, and expressing cautious optimism for the sector’s future.
NIGERIA WATCH
Analysis and commentary for Nigerian maritime stakeholders
Adeyanju’s intervention on Day of the Seafarer 2026 lands with uncomfortable force precisely because it implicates the state in an avoidable human catastrophe. The verification exercise at Bode Thomas was not a spontaneous event — it was a structured, government-sanctioned process designed to identify and clear outstanding pension obligations. That nearly four years have elapsed since that exercise, with beneficiaries dying and deteriorating in the interim, reflects a systemic failure that sits well beyond administrative inconvenience.
The unresolved pension crisis must be situated within Nigeria’s wider Maritime Labour Convention (MLC) compliance obligations. NIMASA has in recent months invested considerable energy in positioning Nigeria as an MLC-compliant flag and port State, including through its Malta ship registry partnership and its formal inspections of foreign-flagged vessels calling at Nigerian ports. Yet the MLC’s core premise is the protection of seafarers’ welfare — including their entitlements upon retirement. A Nigeria that enforces MLC standards on visiting ships while allowing its own retired mariners to die in penury sends a deeply contradictory signal to the international maritime community.
The MAN Oron challenge is equally symptomatic. Nigeria has long articulated ambitions to grow its domestic seafarer base and reduce dependence on foreign crew — ambitions embedded in the Cabotage regime and the CVFF framework. But those ambitions are hollow if the country’s premier maritime training institution produces graduates who cannot obtain internationally recognised STCW certification or accumulate the sea time required for career advancement. NIMASA’s mandate under the Merchant Shipping Act explicitly includes oversight of maritime training standards; the agency cannot credibly claim to be developing Nigeria’s seafarer pipeline while Oron’s certification bottleneck persists.
Adeyanju’s call to reinstate gangway men touches on a quieter but commercially significant issue. Port security and cargo integrity are areas where Nigeria’s port operators, particularly terminal concessionaires at Apapa and Tin Can Island, have long flagged concerns about losses at berth. Gangway supervision is a low-cost, high-impact control measure; its erosion should concern NPA, the port terminals, and cargo owners alike.
What this Day of the Seafarer statement ultimately demands is not sentiment but settlement — of pension arrears, of certification barriers, of security gaps. The federal government and the relevant agencies have the frameworks, the mandates, and in several instances the prior commitments. What has been missing is execution.
Maritime Labour and Trade Union
ITF Sounds Alarm at 100-Day Mark of Middle East War as Over 20,000 Seafarers Remain Stranded
ITF Sounds Alarm at 100-Day Mark of Middle East War as Over 20,000 Seafarers Remain Stranded
Global labour body demands ceasefire, crew protections and UN-led diplomacy as Persian Gulf shipping crisis deepens
By Okeoghene Onoriobe | Waterways News
The International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) has used the 100-day milestone of the ongoing Middle East conflict to issue an urgent call for a ceasefire and the strengthening of protections for seafarers and other civilian transport workers caught in the crossfire of a war they had no part in starting.
The global maritime and transport labour federation, marking 100 days since US and Israeli strikes on Iran ignited the conflict on 28 February, described the ongoing hostilities as a war that “civilian transport workers did not start, cannot end and have paid for — with their lives, their health and their freedom.”
Seafarers Bearing the Cost of War
Transport workers across the global supply chain have been drawn into the violence. Airport staff were among the casualties of early attacks, while seafarers have faced a mounting wave of incidents at sea as hostilities spilled into some of the world’s most critical shipping lanes.
Shipping in and around the Strait of Hormuz and the Persian Gulf — which together facilitate roughly a fifth of global oil trade — has come under repeated assault, with vessels struck, seized and crew members killed, injured or taken into detention.
Data from the International Maritime Organization (IMO) records 42 confirmed maritime incidents in the region between 1 March and 8 June, with at least 11 seafarers confirmed dead.
The human toll extends well beyond fatalities. The ITF says more than 20,000 seafarers are currently stranded in the Persian Gulf, unable to be repatriated or rotated off vessels, effectively held in limbo by a conflict over which they have no control. The federation has received more than 2,500 requests for assistance since hostilities escalated, and says it has so far managed to facilitate the return home of over 600 seafarers.
Labour Protections Under Threat
The ITF raised particular concern over what it described as the weaponisation of force majeure clauses by some employers, alleging that certain shipping companies have invoked the legal provision to extend crew contracts beyond agreed terms, restrict onboard communications and delay the repatriation of seafarers. The federation characterised this as an exploitation of wartime conditions to erode hard-won labour protections.
The ITF demanded full and uncompromised enforcement of the Maritime Labour Convention (MLC), the international instrument that underpins seafarers’ rights globally. It called specifically for guaranteed crew changes, timely wage payments, unimpeded access to communication with families and the assurance of safe passage home.
Demands for Action
Beyond welfare concerns, the ITF set out a series of demands directed at governments, shipowners and international institutions. These include an immediate ceasefire, the unconditional release of all detained seafarers and vessels, and respect for civilian maritime infrastructure under the established principles of international humanitarian law.
On the question of humanitarian shipping corridors, the ITF insisted that any such arrangement must operate only on the basis of binding, verified security guarantees — not ad hoc assurances — and called on the United Nations to lead urgent diplomatic efforts toward a durable resolution under the UN Charter.
Nigeria Watch
The Persian Gulf crisis carries direct and measurable implications for Nigeria’s maritime and energy sectors.
Nigeria’s crude oil exports compete in the same Asian and European markets that rely heavily on Persian Gulf supply. As shipping disruptions push war risk insurance premiums higher and complicate tanker routing, upward pressure on freight costs for Nigerian crude cargoes is an indirect but real consequence — one that port operators, commodity traders and shipping lines operating in Nigerian waters will need to monitor.
For MWUN — the Maritime Workers’ Union of Nigeria — and the broader community of Nigerian seafarers, the ITF’s intervention is also a reminder of the value of affiliation with global labour structures. With thousands of Nigerians serving aboard vessels in international trade, the protections embedded in the Maritime Labour Convention are not abstractions. They are practical safeguards that, as events in the Persian Gulf demonstrate, can be tested — and threatened — by geopolitical forces entirely outside a seafarer’s control.
NIMASA, as Nigeria’s flag state administration and the body responsible for the welfare of Nigerian seafarers on international voyages, has both a mandate and a reputational interest in monitoring repatriation cases involving Nigerians in the affected zone, and in affirming publicly its alignment with MLC enforcement.
The ITF’s call for UN-led diplomacy also resonates with Nigeria’s long-standing posture as a proponent of multilateralism in maritime governance — a position the Federal Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy would do well to echo in appropriate international forums.
Waterways News | Lagos
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