Retired workers of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) have issued a stern warning that could bring the nation’s critical maritime gateways to a standstill.
In a strongly worded statement released on Sunday, the Nigerian Ports Authority Pensioners Welfare Association (NPAPWA) declared that its members will shut down operations at all seaports across the country unless the federal government and NPA management address long-standing grievances over pension increments within seven days.
The threat, which comes amid Nigeria’s persistent economic hardship and soaring inflation, marks the latest escalation in a 15-year battle between the authority’s retirees and its management.
According to the pensioners, the NPA has repeatedly failed to implement the constitutionally mandated five-year review of pensions, a provision they say has been ignored since 2008.
“Section 173, subsection 3 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) guarantees periodic pension increases every five years and adjustments in line with salary reviews for serving workers,” the association stated. Instead, they allege, the NPA has doled out arbitrary increments ranging between a meager 3 percent and 11.5 percent, far below what the law demands.
A key sticking point, the pensioners revealed, is the authority’s failure to submit necessary documents to the National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission for more than 15 years. Without these records, no formal upward review of pensions can be processed.
The human cost of this bureaucratic inertia is stark. Many retirees, the association said, are struggling to survive in an economy where the cost of living has skyrocketed. “It is sad and regrettable to say the least that amid the present high inflation rate and economic downturn in Nigeria, only a few NPA retirees receive up to N100,000 monthly, while more than 50 percent of them earn between N50,000 and as low as N30,000,” the statement lamented.
The pensioners drew a sharp contrast between the NPA’s status as a “first-grade parastatal”—comparable to the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) – and the “peanuts” paid to its former employees. “Although the NPA remains a first-grade parastatal like the NNPC, its retirees were paid peanuts, and their so-called pay rise falls short of the constitutional provision,” they added.
In a bid to pre-empt any attempt to undermine their campaign, the association firmly dismissed suggestions of internal divisions. It insisted that past leadership disputes have been conclusively resolved through the courts, paving the way for a unified front under the current executive.
The current leadership emerged after a Lagos High Court sitting in Ikeja ordered the Board of Trustees to convene an annual general meeting and conduct fresh elections. “In one of the judgements of the Lagos High Court, Ikeja, the judge instructed the Board of Trustees to hold an AGM of all the pensioners and thereafter conduct an election, an action which consequently led to my emergence as the body’s incumbent President,” the president explained.
Further cementing the leadership’s legitimacy, an Apapa Magistrate Court in September 2025 delivered a ruling in favor of the association after a five-year legal tussle over alleged impersonation. The court affirmed the current president as the authentic head of the NPAPWA.
The pensioners’ ultimatum carries significant national implications. Nigeria’s seaports – particularly Lagos’s Apapa and Tin Can Island ports, as well as those in Calabar, Onne, and Warri – handle the bulk of the country’s imports and exports.
A coordinated shutdown would disrupt supply chains, delay cargo clearance, and inflict fresh pain on an economy already reeling from multiple shocks.
As the seven-day countdown begins, all eyes are now on the federal government, the NPA management, and the Wages Commission.
For thousands of elderly retirees who once kept Nigeria’s maritime lifeline running, the question is no longer about legal technicalities or administrative delays. It is about dignity, survival, and whether the nation that benefited from their decades of service will finally honor its constitutional obligations before the ports fall silent.
WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW
NPA pensioners have issued a 7-day ultimatum to shut down all seaports nationwide unless the Nigerian Ports Authority implements the constitutionally mandated 5-year pension review that has been neglected for over 15 years since 2008.
Despite the NPA’s status as a top-tier parastatal, more than 50% of its retirees survive on a meager ₦30,000 to ₦50,000 monthly amid harsh economic conditions, while the authority has failed to submit the required documents for proper pension upward review as stipulated by Section 173(3) of the Constitution.
The retirees, now unified under court-backed leadership, are demanding their rights or will paralyse the nation’s maritime gateways starting next week.
