Maritime Labour and Trade Union
Workers and Owners Must Learn to Work Together — Comrade Larry Charts Bold Course for Lagos Waterways
Workers and Owners Must Learn to Work Together — Comrade Larry Charts Bold Course for Lagos Waterways
In an exclusive interview with Waterways News, the newly elected Secretary of the Lagos Commercial Private Boat District of the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN), Comrade Osaweren O. Larry, opens up on the state of Nigeria’s inland waterways, the urgent need for a
unified approach between workers’ unions and boat owners’ associations, and his vision for a safer, more prosperous sector.
Interview conducted by Oghenewoke Onoriode, Waterways News Reporter | Lagos | March 9, 2026
Nigeria is a nation blessed with one of the most extensive inland waterway networks on the African continent — over 10,000 kilometres of rivers, creeks, lagoons, and intra-coastal waters that
thread through 28 of the country’s 36 states. Yet, for decades, this vast blue infrastructure has remained an underperforming asset, weighed down by regulatory uncertainty, decaying jetties, safety crises, and the chronic misalignment between those who own the boats and those who operate them.
In Lagos, the commercial nerve centre of Nigeria and home to one of the busiest inland waterway systems in West Africa, that misalignment is felt most acutely. A landmark Supreme Court ruling of January 5, 2024, declared the National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) the sole lawful regulator of inland waterways in Nigeria.
For workers and operators already
navigating daily uncertainty, the question is no longer just who rules the water, but whether the sector’s own internal stakeholders could unite to seize the moment.
It is into this charged environment that Comrade Osaweren O. Larry has stepped in as the newly elected Secretary of the Lagos Commercial Private Boat District of the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN), one of the most strategically important district-level positions in the labour union. Oghenewoke Onoriode of Waterways News, sat down with him for an in-depth conversation about the state of the sector, the critical distinctions and intersections between workers’ unions and boat owners’ associations, and the district agenda for the years ahead, under the leadership of the newly elected chairman, Comrade Patrick Owolabi Omotayo.
THE INTERVIEW
Q: Congratulations on your election, Comrade Larry. For the benefit of our readers, what exactly is the Lagos Commercial Private Boat District, and what role does the Secretary play within the structure of the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria?
A: Thank you very much. First, I would want to say, I am responding in my capacity as the secretary of the Lagos Commercial Private Boat District, and by this, I want to appreciate the members of the Lagos Commercial Private Boat District who placed their confidence in me, particularly the district chairman Comrade Omotayo Owolabi. The district is one of the key units within the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria, specifically under the waterway transport wing. Our district covers commercial boat operators, the Skippers who drive the boats, the deckhands, and all maritime workers employed by private boat owners and commercial ferry operators across the Lagos waterway corridor — from Badagry in the west to Ikorodu in the east, and the various creek routes in between. The Secretary, in our structure, is the
administrative heartbeat of the district. I handle all correspondences, maintain the register of members, coordinate with the branch leadership at the national level, document resolutions, and ensure that decisions taken in the interest of our workers are properly communicated and
implemented. It sounds administrative, but in practice it is a deeply an activist role. You are managing grievances, pushing policies, and ensuring the union remains relevant to every deckhand and boat driver on the water.
“The waterway is our workplace, and like every workplace, it must be safe, regulated, and dignified. That is the non-negotiable starting point.”
Q: Nigeria’s inland waterways sector has been described as a sleeping giant. What is your honest assessment of where we are today, particularly in Lagos?
A: That metaphor is apt, but I would add that it is a giant that is beginning to stand. For too long, we treated water transport as the poor cousin of road transport. Lagos has approximately 16 percent of its land mass covered by lagoons, creeks and other water bodies — that is an extraordinary gift. NIWA’s own data puts Nigeria’s waterway network at over 10,000 kilometres. And yet, if you compare investment in our roads versus investment in our waterways, the disparity is embarrassing. What we are seeing now is a slow awakening. The €410 million Omi Eko electric ferry project, which is a Lagos State initiative, signals that someone, somewhere, understands the potential. NIWA’s proposal to dredge 2,000 kilometres of navigable waterways and complete the Lokoja Inland Port in Lokoja is another positive signal. But
these are still largely policy conversations. On the ground, the average boat worker in Lagos is still
operating in an environment with poor jetty infrastructure, inadequate safety equipment, and wages that have not kept pace with the cost of living since the fuel subsidy removal. That is the reality we must confront as union officers
Q: The Supreme Court’s January 2024 ruling that NIWA is the exclusive regulator of inland waterways, effectively nullifying key provisions of the LASWA Law, was a major legal
development. How has that ruling impacted workers on the Lagos waterways?
A: It was a landmark ruling, and in the long run, it should be positive. For years, Lagos boat operators — both owners and workers — were subjected to double taxation. You had NIWA collecting levies, and LASWA collecting levies, and both claiming authority to license and regulate. The confusion was maddening. The Supreme Court resolved that inland waterways are on the exclusive legislative list, meaning only the National Assembly has authority to legislate on the matter. NIWA, established by an Act of the National Assembly, is therefore the lawful authority. But here is the complication: LASWA had become operationally entrenched. LASWA trained personnel, constructed approximately 28 active jetties, terminal management, and a functional enforcement presence. You cannot simply switch off that institutional infrastructure overnight. What we need now is a seamless transition and cooperation between the two bodies — the federal and the state — so that services do not collapse while the legal dust settles. Workers are caught in the middle when agencies are fighting over jurisdiction. Our position in the union is clear: whichever authority is legally in charge must protect the welfare and safety of those who work on the water.
“Double taxation was killing operators. You had two government agencies demanding money, and workers were the ones absorbing the cost.”
Q: There is often confusion, even among people in the sector, about the distinct roles of the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria and organisations like the Associations of Boat Owners. Can you clearly explain the difference?
A: This is one of the most important questions you can ask, and I am glad you raised it. These organisations serve fundamentally different constituencies, and confusing them creates real problems. The Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria is a trade union. We represent workers — the employees in the maritime sector. Our members are the boat drivers, deckhands, captains of
commercial boats, ticketing staff, jetty workers, and all categories of employees in inland water transportation. We are affiliated to the Nigeria Labour Congress. Our mandate is to protect the rights,
wages, working conditions, and welfare of these workers. We negotiate collective bargaining agreements on their behalf. We push for safety standards because our members also lose their lives when a boat capsizes. We advocate for training and certification because our members are the ones who face criminal liability when accidents happen due to lack of skill. Boat owners’ associations represent the interests of the boat owners themselves. These are business owners. They own the vessels. Their primary concerns are craft licensing, levies, operational permits, profitability, and the
regulatory environment that affects their business. They are not workers; they are employers. Now, here is where it gets nuanced. In Lagos and many other states, you have what I call the ‘owner-operator’ — a person who owns one or two boats and also drives or manages them personally. In that situation, the same individual wears both hats. But the organisational roles must remain distinct.
The union protects the worker. The associations advocate for the boat owners When these get conflated, workers end up with no effective voice, because business interests will always dominate when the two are merged.
Q: So what happens in practice when the interests of boat owners and boat workers come into conflict?
A: It happens regularly. The most common conflict is over wages and work conditions. A boat owner wants to maximise trips per day to maximise revenue. He may resist minimum rest periods for boat drivers. He may resist paying for life jackets and safety equipment, preferring to pass that cost to
workers. He may hire unlicensed hands at lower wages to cut costs. The union’s job is to say no. There are minimum standards. There are negotiated wage floors. There are safety requirements that cannot be waived for profit. Another area of conflict is the classification of workers. Some boat owners try to classify boat drivers as ‘independent contractors’ rather than employees, specifically to avoid paying them benefits and union dues. We have had to fight these reclassifications in several districts. The union is the institutional counterweight to these practices. That is why our existence is not just about labour rights in the abstract. It is about the daily dignity of the man who starts that engine at 5am in the morning so that Lagos commuters can get to work.
“The boat owner owns the vessel. The worker powers it. Both are essential — but only one of them wakes up worrying about wages and safety. That is who the union exists for.”
Q: Safety on Lagos waterways remains a serious concern. Boat accidents, often deadly, continue to occur. What is the union’s position on this, and what systemic changes are needed?
A: This keeps me awake at night. Nigeria’s inland waterways are accident prone. The causes are well understood: overloaded boats, night-time operations without proper lighting, engine failures due to lack of maintenance, operators without proper training or certification, the absence of search and rescue infrastructure, and of course, the scourge of water hyacinth — that invasive plant that has blocked ferry terminals, stalled boats mid-journey, and turned our waterways into obstacle courses. What happened at Christmas 2024, when passengers were stranded at the Ikorodu Ferry Terminal because of water hyacinth blocking the waterway — that is not an isolated incident. It is a systemic failure. The union’s position is that safety cannot be left to individual boat owners. It must be a regulatory floor enforced by NIWA, and workers must be trained and empowered to refuse to operate unsafe vessels without fear of losing their jobs. Currently, a boat driver who refuses to operate an overloaded boat risks dismissal. We need whistleblower protections for maritime workers who raise safety alarms. We need mandatory licensing and certification for all operators. We need NIWA to deploy more water marshals, and we need the proposed Waterways Code to be aggressively enforced.
Q: The Lagos State Government has announced the phase-out of banana boats in favour of larger vessels like the Omi Bus, and there is the ambitious Omi Eko electric ferry project. What is the union’s stance on these modernisation plans?
A: We support modernisation, but modernisation must not come at the cost of existing workers. If you phase out banana boats, and those boats employ thousands of engine drivers, deckhands, and operators, you must have a plan for those workers. The government says licensed operators will be able to bid for Omi Bus concessions. That is good. But bidding requires capital, and most of our
members are workers, not owners. What we are demanding is that any modernisation programme include a comprehensive retraining and reskilling scheme for existing waterway workers,
so that the engine driver of a banana boat becomes a certified operator of an electric ferry rather than being a casualty of modernization
The Omi Eko electric ferry project, supported by the EU, the French
Development Agency, and European Investment Bank to the tune of €410 million, is potentially transformative. It promises 75 electric ferries, 25 modernised terminals with digital payment systems and charging infrastructure, and integration with road and rail. But if the jobs created by this project are filled by new hires from outside the existing workforce, we will have a social crisis on our hands. We are engaging with the relevant authorities now to ensure that retraining provisions are built into the project design.
“Modernisation is welcome. But progress that leaves workers behind is not progress — it is just another form of exploitation wearing a new uniform.”
Q: What is your message to boat owners’ associations about the kind of relationship you want to build with them going forward?
A: My message is this: We are not adversaries. The union and the boat owners’ associations must understand that a thriving waterway sector benefits everyone — workers and owners alike. What kills the sector is instability, unsafe operations, regulatory chaos, and a workforce that is exhausted, underpaid, and unprotected. When a boat capsizes because the engine driver was overworked and undertrained, the owner loses a vessel, the operator faces criminal charges, the passengers lose
their lives, and the entire route loses ridership. The costs of poor labour relations are paid by everyone. We want to build structured dialogue channels between our district and the operators’
associations. We want to develop a joint safety charter that both the union and the associations sign onto — minimum standards of vessel maintenance, maximum passenger loads, mandatory rest periods for operators, and insurance coverage for workers. We can advocate together to NIWA for better jetty infrastructure, better lighting on night routes, faster water hyacinth clearance. On these issues, the workers and the boat owners have identical interests. It is only when the owners try to extract profit by exploiting workers that we become adversaries. Choose not to exploit us, and we become your strongest partners.
Q: Nigeria’s National Assembly currently has before it the NIWA Act Repeal and
Reenactment Bill 2025. What is the union’s position on this legislation?
A: We are watching it very closely. The bill seeks to address some of the gaps in the existing NIWA framework — particularly around jurisdictional conflicts between federal and state authorities, and the limited participation of the private sector. Both of these are legitimate concerns. However, our specific interest as a union is in ensuring that any new legislation contains robust provisions for labour rights in the waterways sector. The current NIWA Act is largely operational and regulatory in focus; it does not adequately address the welfare of workers employed in the sector. We want the new legislation
to include clear provisions on minimum safety standards for workers, the right of workers to organise and collectively bargain, mandatory insurance and compensation frameworks for accidents, and the recognition of the union as a formal stakeholder in regulatory processes. We will be making formal submissions to the National Assembly on these points. No law that governs our waterways should be enacted without the voice of the people who work on the waters.
Q: Finally, Comrade Larry — what is your personal vision for the Lagos Commercial Private Boat District in the next four years, and what would success look like to you?
A: Success, for me, is very specific. It looks like a boat driver in Lagos who goes to work every morning knowing that his boat is certified safe, that he has a union card that guarantees him a fair
wage, that if he is injured on the water there is an insurance mechanism to support him, and that he can come home to his family at the end of the day. It looks like a sector where boat owners and operators cooperate professionally rather than through exploitation. It looks like jetties that are not crumbling, waterways that are free of hyacinth, and routes that are lit at night. It looks like young Nigerians who see inland water transportation as a respectable, rewarding career — not a choice of last resort. Within the district, I want to grow our membership, improve our training programmes in partnership with the Maritime Academy of Nigeria and other bodies, and establish a welfare fund for
members who fall on hard times. I want our district to be a model of what an active, engaged, and member-driven union looks like in the Nigerian maritime space. The water is our livelihood. We will not rest until it is also our dignity.
— END OF INTERVIEW —© 2026
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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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