Workers in Nigeria’s oil and gas sector suspended their strike action yesterday after meeting with representatives of the federal government and multinational oil companies on Thursday night till wee hours of Friday.
The Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) and the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) had called the strike to protest the poor state of the nation’s refineries, poor roads, maltreatment of staff, casualisation, out-sourcing and contract staffing, non-passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) and victimisation of union leaders by oil majors.
The meeting resolved that the Total E & P Nigeria Ltd should reinstate the Port Harcourt zonal secretary of PENGASSAN, Mrs. Elo Victor-Ogbondah, who was transferred and later sacked. It also appealed to Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited to request the contractor Halden Ltd to reabsorb Ikohesa Ikohesa, Port Harcourt zonal treasurer.
While agreeing to intensify efforts on the passage of the PIB, the meeting decided to upgrade working guidelines in view of changes in the world of work as well as submit the names of companies defaulting from the guidelines. On refineries’ turn around maintenance and crude oil supply and the unions’ opposition to the sale of refineries without due consultations with them, the meeting decided to step down the issue “as no comment could be authoritatively made at the meeting on the state of the refineries.”