FG meets PENGASSAN, NUPENG to avert strike

THE Federal Government will today meet with the Petroleum and

Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) and
the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers
(NUPENG).
The parley aims to stave off an industrial action in the oil and gas
sector, as well as seek lasting solution to lingering problems in the
industry.
Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige and the
Minister of State, Petroleum Resources, Mr. Ibe Kachikwu, will lead
government’s delegation to the meeting. The meeting will hold at
the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, NNPC Towers, Abuja.
A statement by the Deputy Director of Press, Mr. Samuel
Olowookere, expressed the optimism that the meeting would
proffer enduring solution to the volatile issues plaguing the
nation’s oil and gas sector. The two unions backed deregulation of
the sector, including the recent hike in pump price of petrol. If the
parley fails, PENGASSAN signified intent, yesterday, to embark on
an indefinite, nationwide strike today.
National Public Relations Officer of PENGASSAN, Emmanuel
Ojugbana, who insisted that the strike would go on as proposed,
denied knowledge of any planned meeting with government.
Rather, he said sequel to the memo to all chairmen and
secretaries in the four zones and branches on the planned
shutdown of the operations and activities in the oil and gas
industry in Nigeria, all was set for the strike.
“Members met in all the zones to fine-tune the strategies and
modalities for the strike on Tuesday, while key officers had their
meeting on yesterday. In the meeting, the gradual method of
shutdown was critically examined and adopted by the members.
The action, which will cripple all activities and operations in the oil
and gas sector, will affect all the sub sectors as our members in
the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), Petroleum
Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA), Petroleum Equalisa­
tion Fund (Monitoring Board) PEF (MB), Pipelines and Products
Marketing Company (PPMC), National Petroleum Investment
Management Services (NAPIMS), oil majors, labour and contract
services companies, and petroleum products marketing companies
will join in the action.”
Calling for understanding of all Nigerians and operators that would
be impacted by the action, Ojugbana said the industrial action is
critical to the survival of the oil and gas industry, which currently
is the mainstay of the nation’s economy. The union had earlier
listed some issues for the strike to include lingering irregular Joint
Venture funding and Cash Call payment arrears, lack of a clear cut
direction on the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), forceful co-option of
government agencies in the industry into the Integrated Personnel
Payroll Information System (IPPIS), and spate of redundancy and
retrenchment in the industry. The association said several efforts
to engage the government to forestall the strike were frustrated by
the government.
PENGASSAN had stated, “sequel to the above subject, the
association tried to engage the federal government on May 24,
2016, which was inconclusive. The engagement was later fixed for
June 23, 2016, which did not take place, and again for June 30,
2016, which was unceremoniously cancelled with no date given.”
Source:Dailysun