Section 114: Payment of wages of seaman left behind on ground of unfitness, etc.

(1)
Where a seaman is left behind at any port in a foreign country, on shore or at sea, the master shall pay the wages due to the seaman to the appropriate officer.
(2)
Where payment is made to an appropriate officer in a foreign country, the officer shall retain one duplicate of the account delivered to him and if satisfied with the account, endorse on the other duplicate a receipt for the payment and return the duplicate account to the master of the ship.
(3)
The master of the ship shall:
(a)
if the voyage of the ship is to terminate in Nigeria within forty-eight hours after the arrival of the ship at the ship's port of destination in Nigeria;
(b)
if in the course of the voyage the ship touches and remains for forty-eight hours at any port in Nigeria; or
(c)
in any other case, within forty-eight hours after the ship's arrival at the ship's port of destination, deliver the duplicate account to the superintendent or appropriate officer at the port.
(4)
Payment under this section shall be made, whenever it is practicable, in cash and when not so practicable, by bills drawn on the owner of the ship.
(5)
Where payment is made by bills under this section:
(a)
the appropriate officer shall certify by endorsing:
(i) on the bill that the bill is drawn for seamen's wages,
(ii) on the agreement with the crew the amount for which the bill is drawn, and
(iii) such further particulars as the Minister may require;
(b)
if the bill is drawn by the master, the owner of the ship shall be liable to pay the amount to the holder or endorse the amount on the bill and it is not necessary, in any proceedings against the owner upon the bill, to prove that the master had authority to draw the bill;
(c)
a bill purporting to be drawn and endorsed under this section shall, if produced out of the custody of the Minister or the superintendent, be admissible in evidence; and any endorsement on any bill purporting to be made in pursuance of this section shall also be admissible as evidence of the facts stated in the endorsement.
(6)
A master of a ship who fails, without reasonable cause, to make the payment of wages provided for under this section, commits an offence and on conviction is liable to a fine not less than fifty thousand Naira.