The Nigerian government will investigate allegations that international oil companies operating in the upstream sector employ more foreigners than allowed by the law, an official statement said.
Junior petroleum minister Odein Ajumogobia told leaders of the blue-collar oil union NUPENG that his ministry would collaborate with the labour ministry to investigate the alleged abuse of “expatriate quota,” the statement said.
Ajumogobia said the government “will not tolerate a situation where Nigerian workers in the oil and gas sector are being subjected to practices that do not conform to the regulations stipulated in the labour laws,” the statement said.
The government would also investigate the “perceived wrongdoings and injustice meted out to Nigerian workers by the (international oil companies) under the pretext of redundancy and contract staffing”.
Leaders of the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) have complained to the minister that the policy of contract/casual staffing by international oil companies is at variance with international practice.
They also accused the companies of awarding contracts that violate industrial procedures.
The white-collar oil union PENGASSAN last month went on strike to protest among other things the alleged abuse of expatriate quota by foreign oil companies.