He Treats Workers With Love, Respect With Great Commitment- Francis Bunu, DPG
My name is Comrade Francis Bunu Deputy President General Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria. Precisely from the seafarer sector, as a trade union what Comrade Adeyanju has achieved during his time while in his office are enormous.
If we start to say it, we might not leave here in two or three hours. First and foremost, we’re going to ask ourselves, where were we before? Let’s start with my sector, which is the seafarers. Before now, we knew for sure what we met during other government when they came in.
On the NJIC, which is the bible of the seafarer. The Bill of Rights of the seafarer which is the condition of service. Today our condition of service is recognised by the ITF even by the federal government not just recognition the federal government is now part and parcel of the condition of service that we have as seafarers and precisely we met that document where they pay ABs seafarer N30,000 monthly.
Today, some seafarers are paid N1.5 million monthly that is where we are now. In our NJIC some even in US dollars.
When we joined this union in our early age, we normally ask, seafarer is supposed to have a world-class recreational center but all the rumors we had, they said no the money is supposed to be given to one labour leader and one labour leader has to write against one labor leader. Osorowo had to write against Ukaumunna, Ukaumunna had to write against Osorowo.
That is what we heard but today in his own time, he practically took me to London to have a talk with the white men. We told them what we needed and we also offered them what we can do as we speak now, an approval has been given to build a world-class seafarer recreational center in our country and it’s first of its kind in Africa. Also as we speak the government is making sure the land is given to the union to the first-recreational center.
Before now, we as seafarers we deal with the international space that’s international companies and we had no job security. But as of today, it is no longer so, one of the things that I cherish about comrade Adeyanju is that even if he is eating and he receives a call that a worker is being sacked, he will leave his food and he will ask you how did it happen? what did you do? What are your actions? He will fight for you as if he’s s fighting an enemy.
That is one thing about him because he believes that he was elected for that purpose and that is what trade union leaders are suppose to emulate all over the world.
He is always selfless and committed to workers welfare. Today, seafarers are no longer toyed with. In his time, when a seafarer dies the rightful compensation are paid to the seafarer’s family by the company they worked for so entitlement is guaranteed.
Right now, seafarers who have worked for this country for several years who were disengaged then, without no remuneration of welfare package, or payoff for them and this matter has been on ground court ruled and nobody was able to push it out for us but when he came, the federal government has set up a committee on that purpose and at the same time, the committee has even gone for verification across the country.
A report has already been submitted right now to the Federal Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy so these things are landmark of achievement.
If you look at the environment, before this place was like a dungeon. But look at it with these buildings you can see what has happened the whole place has been transformed. If he doesn’t have the people at heart, he can as well carry the money to his place as a selfish person but you can see his footprints , one thing about him is that if he loves you he will fight you more because he doesn’t want you to make mistake and that is one of the qualities of a good leader.
He is a man that makes sure that people grow under him It’s not about becoming a President General the question people will ask is how many people did you help to grow when were in office ? The union stands for continuity so as you are leaving you must have capable hands that can take over from you.
Have you ever seen in Africa or Nigeria, a maritime worker or dockworker holding two international positions? Have you ever seen a foreigner holding double positions in Nigeria in ITF? but because the international community have seen what he is doing and it affects the international community that is why he is the first person to get that global recognition.
He Is a leader that you can always look at and say indeed I have a leader. He does not send you to go and fight and doesn’t stay at your back. He is somebody who will tell you, this is where we are going and he will be there in fact he will be there before you. The union has been transformed from ten to ninety members so he has done excellently well.
Erazua Oniha, Asst General Secretary
My name is Comrade Oniha Erazua. I am the Deputy Secretary General of the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria.
From my point of view as an employee of the union, I will like to state that since Comrade Prince Dr. Adewale Adeyanju became President General he has brought humanity to the system. I have not had any cause to regret why I started working in the Maritime Workers Union I am are very happy and I believe I speak the voice of all the employees in the union. Our salaries and allowances are paid as at when due and we are treated equally.
The man Adeyanju is a philanthropist, a nation builder, a peacemaker, and a disciplinarian if you misbehave, he will discipline you by using his right hand to beat you and his left hand to draw you back we appreciate him a lot.
His achievements are enormous. Is it in terms of the secretariat development, personnel development, personnel training? Or is it about union expansion?
Since he became President General, I am sure the membership of the union has moved by about 70%. It was during this time that we had batch operators joining the union, haulage operators joining the union, and most recently the silo bulk carriers.
These are individuals who come to join us. Most importantly, the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarders in Nigeria (CRFFN) With all these sectors joining the union, union membership is expanding, and our reach is expanding.
I want to also take our minds back to the COVID-19 era, when most of the union lost a lot of people to COVID-19 but MWUN through its leadership took proactive actions to visit all the ports, distributed PPEs to ensure that our frontliners and our members don’t get infected with COVID-19 and I can safely say that today, it’s a success story because throughout the COVID-19 era none of our members got the virus.
One of the first things that my boss did, when he first came into power, was to make sure the issue of the Harbour Bill that was in the National Assembly, where some people wanted to bring in a Harbour Bill and kill the Nigerian Port Authority, thereby making some of our members and NPA staffs unemployed. He fought that fight, and the harbour bill was killed.
Another issue that we need to talk about is the National Inland Waterways Authority(NIWA) , he liaised with them and ensured that employment was created through the employment of sea marshals and we are very happy about it . So many things can be said about him we are happy to have him as our leader and from the point of view as an employee of the union, he’s the best boss we can have
