Contrary to reports that at least 11,000 workers will lose job after the Nigerian Ports Authority, NPA, terminated boats pilotage monitoring and supervision agreement with the INTELS, exclusive document obtained by DAILY NIGERIAN shows that the claim is far from the truth.
In a letter dated September 27, minister of Justice and Attorney-General of Federation directed the NPA to terminate the boats pilotage monitoring and supervision agreement with INTELS, foremost integrated logistics and facility services provider in Nigeria’s maritime and oil and gas sectors.
Mr Malami said the agreement, which allowed INTELS to receive revenue on behalf of NPA for 17 years, violates the Nigerian Constitution, especially in view of the implementation of the Treasury Single Account, TSA, policy of government.
On Thursday last week, INTELS in a statement vowed to take legal action, saying the termination of the agreement conveyed to it by the NPA boss on Tuesday was “clearly preposterous and the consequences highly injurious” to the interests of Nigeria.
But NPA, in a statement by Abdullahi Goje, the Corporate and Strategic Communications, said the authority acted on the advice of the Minister of Justice in arriving at the decision to terminate the contract.
Lending its voice to INTELS, the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria came up with an overblown figure of 11,000 workers whose jobs it said were on the line following the termination of the contract.
The union president, Adewale Adeyanju, told journalists in Lagos that “Today, we are aware that Intels has over 5,000 direct employees and over 6,000 indirect employees, which makes it up to 11,000 workers.”
But investigation by DAILY NIGERIAN shows that INTELS has a total of 2,555 workers in the whole group, working at Onne, Warri and Calabar Ports. Of this figure, 120 are expatriate workers.
While the termination of the agreement affects mainly INTELS service boats revenue collections, the company’s other operations were affected.
Documents obtained by DAILY NIGERIAN also show that only 46 staff handling “Agency Services” out 2,555 staff that are directly affected by the termination of the agreement.
“The fact of the matter is that these 46 people are the only ones in charge of the multi-million dollar service boats revenue collection. And this is the only agreement terminated by the federal government,” said an inside source who preferred anonymity.
