STRONG indication emerged after the top secret security meeting between the Presidency and the leadership of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) and the National Union of Petroleum Gas Workers (NUPENG) on Monday that the Federal Government had nipped the planned nationwide strike scheduled to commence tomorrow by the unions.
Though, the final decisions arrived at after the meeting that lasted for six hours at the Transcorp Hilton Hotels, Abuja, were not made known to the media because of what the initiator of the parley, the National Security Adviser (NSA) to the President, Abdullahi Seriki Mukhtar, called “high security risk,” Nigerian Tribune learnt from a source at the meeting that the Federal Government representatives were able to get PENGASSAN and NUPENG to rescind their decisions to go on strike starting from tomorrow.
Besides, the Federal Government jointly agreed with the unions at the meeting to incorporate labour into all policy-decision making of government while four different sub-committees were set up to resolve all the issues raised by the unions.
At the meeting were the NSA, Bauchi State governor, Isa Yuguda; Edo State governor and former NLC president, Adams Oshiomhole; Inspector General of Police, Mike Okiro; Minister of Labour, Adetokunbo Kayode; Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Ufot Ekaette Minister of State for Petroleum, Odein Ajumogobia; Group Managing Director, Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), NUPENG President, Peter Akpatason; PENGASSAN President, Tunde Ogun and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) President, Peter Esele.
The government, during the meeting, praised the unions for their doggedness, particularly because they were not fighting over salary increase and welfare of their members.
According to the source, the government representatives agreed that what the labour was fighting for was in order, adding that provision of security in Niger Delta, which was the critical part of their demands, was necessary and critical to the economic development of the country.
“The government praised them that what they were fighting for was in order. That they are not fighting for salary increase. They agreed that all committees of government will have labour and take their input into consideration before decisions are made.
“Before any policy of government becomes operational, they agreed that the minister of labour should look at the labour angle of it and involve labour, while the ministry should be in search of all labour related-issued and the government should help in incorporating labour in all Federal Government issues and decision making,” the source said.
The four sub-committees set up are Deregulation Committee, to be headed by the governor of Bauchi State Isa Yuguda; Operational Committee, to be headed by the National Security Adviser to the President, Abdullahi Mukhtar, with all the service chiefs as members; Criminality Committee to be headed by the Inspector General of Police, Mike Okiro, and the Industria-Labour Relations Committee to be headed by the Minister of Labour, Adetokunbo Kayode.
All the committees are to have representatives of labour leaders, while they will be involved in decision making. However, both government and labour representatives refused to address the media or disclosed the agreement reached after the meeting.
While the convener of the meeting, the NSA said they would not talk on it because it was a highly security related issue, the TUC President said the National Executive Council of both PENGASSAN and NUPENG gave the 21-day ultimatum and issued the strike threat, saying the leadership would go back to feed them on the development.
The PENGASSAN and NUPENG, however, slated their emergency NEC meeting for last night at Agura Hotel, Abuja where the planned nationwide strike was expected to be called off.
Meanwhile, members of the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) and Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) on Monday stormed the National Assembly to protest the Federal Government’s deregulation policy as well as the worsening hostage taking and other crises situation in the Niger Delta.
The protesters, who came with different placards, were clad in red and chanting slogans and singing, even as they barricaded the gates leading to the National Assembly for almost three hours, demanding the presence of either the Speaker of the House of Representatives or the President of the Senate to receive their letter of protestation.
The unions had mapped out plans to embark on a three- day warning strike starting from tomorrow if the Federal Government did not reverse its decisions, particularly on the privatisation of the refineries and concession granted on refined products importation.
Speaker of the House of Representative, Dimeji Bankole, who came down to receive the aggrieved workers, was told by the NUPENG President, Mr. Peter Akpatason, that the two unions decried what he termed government’s insensitivity to the welfare of the people in relation to policies it had implemented and pursued over the years and on the Niger Delta crisis.
“We are losing our members every day. We have cried out several times, with no solution. The people seem not to be very serious about it. And we have said today that we cannot continue the way it has been in the past; there must be a change.
“As a result of that, our people have mandated us to take this struggle to the very apex of government. We are going to meet top security chiefs this afternoon, we have seen the composition of that meeting and we observed the very conspicuous absence of the legislative arm of government and we believe that these are the people that are representing us, as a result of that, we said we have to take the struggle to the National Assembly so that we have the right laws to protect our members,” he said.
The joint-union of oil workers, in the letter of protest delivered to the Speaker, lamented the inability of the government to call for a constructive engagement of all stakeholders on the issue of Niger Delta in spite of the restiveness going on there.
“As key stakeholders and victims of the restiveness, we are no longer ready to produce oil with the blood of our members and dependants.
“Our members and dependants as well as fellow citizens of this great country have been traumatised, kidnapped, raped, dehumanised, but all we see is government’s haphazard, inappropriate and lacklustre modus operandi in addressing the Niger Delta region.