Fuel scarcity may worsen as PENGASSAN issues notice of strike for Monday

Amidst the scarcity of fuel products in many parts of the country, especially Premium Motor Spirit (petrol) the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) has called out its members to prepare to down tools on Monday.

The call follows a stalemate in the peace meeting called by the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Dr Ibe Kachikwu, between the union and Neconde Energy Limited.

Both parties had been at loggerheads as accused Neconde of victimizing it’s members in its employ.

The notice of strike is coming amidst scarcity of petrol in some parts of the country, resulting in queues at filling stations especially in Lagos and Abuja.

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PENGASSAN, the umbrella body of senior workers in the oil and gas sector, claimed that Neconde wrongly terminated the employment of some of its workers, and threatened to go on strike if the sacked workers were not recalled within 72 hours.

To broker peace between both parties, Kachikwu has initiated a meeting between the two warring bodies in Abuja during the week, but the meeting ended in a deadlock.

Thereafter, PENGASSAN in a release by its Public Relation Officer, Fortune Obi, at the weekend said it would embark on industrial action on Monday.

Obi said: “Following the failure of the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Dr Ibe Kachikwu, to settle the rift between this body (PENGASSAN) and Neconde, the management of PENGASSAN has agreed to start the strike on Monday night (December 18th, 2017).

“Prior to the strike, PENGASSAN will hold an emergency Central Working Committee (CWC) meeting on Monday morning, which will be followed with announcement of strike on the night of Monday.’’

The union said it has put its workers across the country on standby for the strike, adding that nothing whatsoever would stop the body from starting the strike by midnight on Monday.

PENGASSAN’s Lagos Zonal Chairman, Abel Agarin, had said that the termination of employment of some workers by Neconde was unlawful, as it was not in line with equity, good conscience and industrial relations best practices and extant labour laws.

He stated in an earlier communiqué that the union would not tolerate any act of victimization against any of its members.

 

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