THE Federal Government has disclosed that the recent oil and gas reform would address the problem of expatriate quota and ensure its proper application in the petroleum industry.
The Minister of State for Energy (Petroleum), Mr. Odein Ajumogobia, said this when a delegation from the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers Union (NUPENG), led by the President, Mr. Akpatason, paid him a courtesy visit in his office .
He said government would also investigate the perceived wrongdoings and injustice meted out to Nigerian workers by international oil companies under the pretext of redundancy and contract employment.
Ajumogobia said the present administration would not tolerate a situation where workers in the oil and gas sector were subjected to practices that did not conform with the regulations stipulated in the labour laws of the country.
He stated that the ministry would collaborate with the Ministry of Labour to investigate abuse of expatriate quota by international oil companies operating in the upstream of the energy sector of the economy.
He said his commitment to local content was related to the urgent need to increasing in the country, value in the oil and gas industry.
President of NUPENG, Mr. Akpatason, had said the policy of contract and casual staffing by the international oil companies operating in the upstream sector was at variance with international practice on contract staffing in the oil and gas industry.
He called on the Federal Government to quickly address restiveness in the Niger Delta, which, he said, had continued to claim and endanger the lives of its members.