Day of horror at Lagos port

Corpses of the port workers
who died accidentallyDele Aderibigbe reports on the crisis that engulfed the Lagos Ports complex last Friday.

The Union declared it a black Friday and it was indeed a black Friday! Those who could cry did so freely. Those who had the energy for violence simply threw caution to the winds and took laws into their hands, chanting war songs. One woman, weeping, with hands above her head kept shouting “Ah, ah, Akin ma ti lo nuu, Akin ma ti lo nuu” [ah ah, has Akin just gone just like that? Has Akin gone just like that? She was inconsolable.

It was a day every thing went wrong at the port. In a matter of 40 minutes, the ENL Consortium, one of the most vibrant terminal operators at the Lagos Ports complex at Apapa lost property and goods worth several millions. About N10 million cash was reportedly stolen from ENL till, by hoodlums who reportedly hijacked the mêlée from protesting dockworkers.

They reportedly raped a lady in the chaos, aside from making attempt to beat up a top-ranking ENL top brass, Mr. Mark Walsh, a white man who was timely rescued by ENL dockworkers, who stood their ground, insisting that the white man must not be killed. An air-conditioned bus, said to have been bought only a few days earlier, purportedly to be presented to the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria [MWUN] was the first to be vandalized.

Four cars, state-of-the-art on wheels were seriously vandalised, followed by a brand new Hilux van, after which the hoodlums swooped on ENL head office at the Ports’ shed six and tore it to shreds. Management staff and workers simply bailed out and scampered for safety. The crisis quickly spread from the ENL terminals to other terminals where the workers also abandoned jobs, as the news spread. The devil was not only in the port, it was indeed controlling events in the port!

Comrade Onikolease Irabor, President General, Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria [MWUN] described the day as a Black Friday, saying that the Union was indeed very sad. “The Union has declared today a Black Friday! We are sad; very sad. Even if our men must die, why must they die such hard and painful deaths?!” The Ports Authority Police [PAP} Commissioner, Mr. J.O Uzu-Egbunam however saw the entire event as sheer “accident”

Port workers, angered at the
death of their colleagues,
destroyed many property,
including this burnt bus.“It is unfortunate, but it is accidental,” he said, even as he noted that the violent reaction of the irate labourers showed that “they were angry. They acted as if they had pent-up anger!”, he told newsmen, as he shepherded out a protesting mob carrying the corpses of two dead colleagues at the back of a van , while police provided back-up sirens in two other vehicles, to take the dead to their homes, for instant burial rites, as muslims. Anyone who had visited the port only three hours earlier would find it difficult to believe that havoc of such magnitude could be wreaked so quickly, only several minutes later. Those who arrived the port early in the day had no such inkling.

Work actually started peacefully that morning, like every other day. Everybody consciously manned his duty post. The security men manned the gates in line with the guidelines of the International Ships and Ports facility Security ISPS code. Importers jostled briskly, with their agents by their sides, making efforts to clear their containers. The haulagers were at alert, every one of them counting the seconds and bidding their time, waiting for containers to be moved to various warehouses. Unknown to every one, the devil had sneaked into the port, and was marking his time at berth 10, where a frozen fish laden ship, the MV Green Reefers Majestic was discharging.

The labourers on the first shift had completed their round, and those on the second had just moved in. It was a few minutes after 11 am. One young labourer stooped, waiting to use his naked back to carry a carton of fish. The other stood akimbo, watching to see if the guy crouching needed any assistance. Suddenly, the cable of the Green Reefers, holding the heavy crane snapped, releasing a heavy crane which came tumbling down in seconds, and smashing the duo. The guy crouching died where he was. The second which saw his death coming froze with fear, and so had no chance of moving away.

Momentarily, other labourers abandoned their jobs. A few wailed. The bold ones attempted to take charge, rushing to the sides of their dying colleagues. A few were shouting that the ENL ambulance be sent for. Everyone knew the men were dead. Hope became the most vital commodity, especially the notion of hoping against “reality”. Like a bat out of hell, the ambulance roared to life blaring siren. Everyone sighed with relief, waiting for the ambulance to stop, but it did not. At least, not until it had crushed several others, allegedly killing one or two instantly and seriously wounding seven, one of them very critically. Some said one other died on the way to the hospital. Shortly after, the devil seemingly totally took over. The labourers surrendered whatever was left of sanity, patience or logics.

To most, it was high time they voted for the devil. Enough was simply enough! First the crowd pounced on the ambulance and burnt it. Then, they marched into the ENL management building on Shed 6 to complain, and left to hang around the building. All work had stopped. A short while later, irate colleagues, and sympathizers mostly hoodlums from the neighbourhood arrived and not only joined them, but hijacked the crisis. It was like a legion of demons had actually arrived. Comrade Irabor blamed the violent reaction to the fact that the irate crowd had several grievances, some of which included lack of training of any kind for labourers since they took over, lack of any conditions of service and hopelessness on the part of the labourers.

The MWUN leader also raised one salient point: if the notion that the dock workers were kitted as often presented to members of the National Assembly each time they came on official over- sight functions was true how come those that were killed die naked?

If the two dockworkers whose lives were cut short in their prime by a faulty crane had their way, or choice in the next world, one thing is sure; they will not come back as Nigerians. Their last trip, like that of most commoners, were pathetic and painful. Nature was too unkind to them. They came non-descript at birth; ended up as labourers, suffered their hearts out contributing their quota towards a united and prosperous Nigeria by carrying loads with bare backs, only to die, un-sung, etching daily bread in an attempt not to fraternize with the bad groups.