The National President, Nigeria Union of Petroleum and
Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), Comrade Achese Igwe declared yesterday evening that
its three days strike will continue after a meeting jointly held with the its
sister union ,the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of
Nigeria (PENGASSAN).
The NUPENG President also disclosed
that the meeting with the Federal Government on Monday night, led by the
Minister of Labour and Productivity, Chief Emeka Wogu was inconclusive,
therefore, the strike will be sustained.
However, he stated that NUPENG had
scheduled its National Executive Council (NEC) meeting for last night in Abuja,
adding that the union will still take a critical look at the strike and take
the next line of action whether to suspend the strike or continue.
But Achese warned that the crises and
problems in the oil and gas industry cannot be resolved if the Minister of
Petroleum, Diezani Alison-Madueke, refused to be on her seat to address the
issues.
He said: “On the ongoing strike of
NUPENG, the strike action is still on and at the NUPENG level, the NEC will be
meeting later this (yesterday) night to deliberate on these issues. The
aftermath of the meeting we would be able to announce to Nigerians and our next
line of action over the on-going strike.
“We strongly believe the strike is
not to create hardship for Nigerians but to protect the jobs that are existing
in this great country and to stop labour enslavement in our great country
called Nigeria. We cannot afford to fold our hands as a nation and as workers
to allow Nigerians to be enslaved in the oil and gas sector.
“The minister of petroleum has not
helped matters. The labour minister met us last night but the meeting was
inconclusive. There is no way we can address the problems in the oil and gas
sector if the minister of petroleum is not always on her seat and ready to
work. She has to be on her seat.”
On the issue of Petroleum Industry
Bill, oil theft, casualisation and expatriates quotas, he said: “However on the
items mentioned on PIB, oil theft, divestment, bad roads, general insecurity,
guidelines on casualisation, and expatriate quota, the joint council in session
is requesting urgently the Federal Government, the various institutions to
address these issues as quickly as possible. You are aware that PENGASSAN has
suspended its 7 days ultimatum and it does give him room to dialogue.
The Chairman, South West Chapter of
NUPENG, Alhaji Tokunbo Korodo, told NAN that the union had a meeting with the
Minister of Labour, Mr Emeka Wogu, till 1 a.m. on Tuesday.
Korodo said that the minister had set
up a committee to look into the unfair treatment of Nigerian workers by some
oil companies and some other issues.
He said that the committee included
the permanent secretaries in both the Ministry of Petroleum Resources and the
Ministry of Labour; NUPENG and NNPC officials.
Korodo, however, said that the
three-day warning strike would still continue, adding that government should
have averted it when the 14-day ultimatum was given.
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Politics