COVID-19: NSWB Says Seafarers Will Be Paid For Extended Services

Harboursandport.com: Lagos - The National Seafarers Welfare Board, NSWB, has said that seafarers who have their stay onboard ships extended as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic would receive wages due them for the extra days.

Chairman of NSWB, Otunba Kunle Folarin, stated this while responding to the fears of some Nigerian seafarers on Maritime Television’s premium show tagged Live Conversations. 

Folarin expressed the readiness of the Board to provide assistance to Nigerian seafarers facing difficulties at this time, stressing further that seafarers who toil to keep the economic balance deserves to be paid.

The NSWB chairman seafarers to report all attempts by their employers to short-change them or any other ill treatment melted out on them to the Board, noting that such matters will be dealt with decisively.

He explained that seafarers have a right to escalate such issues even to the International Labour Organisation, ILO when they are not handled properly.

The NSWB chairman who also referred to seafarers as “the engine that propels international trade” said they deserve support through a collective bargaining agreement as “Nigerian seafarers should receive remuneration comparable with their counterparts all over the world.”

He disclosed that a tripartite agreement on seafarers’ welfare in which government represented by the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA, Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria, MWUN representing seafarers and Shipowners was reached in 2019 and signed by the parties.

Folarin noted that the travel ban that has weighed on crew changes through the shutting of airports and land borders; have adversely affected the repatriation of seafarers. He said shore passes are no longer issued by the Nigerian Immigration Service, NIS so as to protect seafarers from contracting COVID-19 by coming ashore.

He assured seafarers that in extreme matters like health crises, and upon the recommendation of the Port Health, evacuation of persons with a delicate case can be arranged.

It will be recalled that the ILO recently in a white paper called on governments to treat seafarers respectfully and to allow crew changes and travels for seafarers.

Folarin also thanked organizations like Women's International Shipping and Trading Association, WISTA Nigeria and Women in Logistics and Transport, WILAT for supporting seafarers during the pandemic.