NUPENG, AMCON square up over unpaid N3billion salaries

Hell was literally let loose on Monday as members of the Nigerian Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) threatened to go to war with the management of the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) over unpaid 18 months salaries and terminal benefits amounting to about N3 billion owed to its members, formerly engaged with Seawolf drilling company.

Chairman of the Seawolf branch of NUPENG, Christian Okoji who led his members on a protest match to AMCON office in Abuja, said they were there to express their grievances.

Okoji recalled that: “Precisely December 2013, AMCON came and bought the company. So when they came, they assured us that they are going to change the system as the former management was having financial constraint. Based on that they came and asked us to denounce our former company and send all our personal data to them and from that moment they will be doing the payment of salaries.”

AMCON, Okoji further revealed, only paid for two months, December 2013 and January 2014.

The NUPENG boss, who lamented that his members had been working at three different rigs belonging to Total, Adax and Conoil, claimed that the least payment they were expected to make from each rig on a daily basis was $130,000.

“The rigs were making so much money. At the end of the day, the AMCON refused to continue the payment of salaries. So our organisation which is NUPENG called them to know the fate of the workers and know why AMCON has refused to pay members.

“Series of letters were written to AMCON to know the fate of our members but there was no response from any end till after some time the rigs had issues with the companies they were drilling for. They finally took the rigs to Lagos, since then they stopped payment,” Okoji stressed.

Okoji said his members were miffed that all entreaties to AMCON to pay up have proved abortive.

Okoji said some directors of AMCON who came out to address them gave them conditions which they won’t accept.

“They are telling us that the Managing Director of AMCON is not around, whom we insisted that we must see. Based on that, they said we have to call the receiver manager who was appointed to run the company, one Mike Igbokwe. They said they are going to invite him tomorrow, then call our representatives to meet with them, to which we said no.”

The body, appealed to President Goodluck Jonathan to intervene and resolve the issue before handing over on 29th May.

Also, other members of NUPENG who commented on the issue lamented that they have lost three co-workers for lack of funds to take care of their health challenges, one of whose corpse was still in the mortuary.

The Secretary of Seawolf Branch of NUPENG, Edet Ntemuse, said they had petitioned the Ministry of Labour and Ministry of Petroleum but were yet to receive any feedback from both end.

The angry mob who chanted martial songs like: “We no go gree, we no go gree” also carried placards bearing several inscriptions.

Responding on behalf of AMCON, Executive Director Credit, Abbas Mohammed Jega said Seawolf is owing AMCON and it cannot pay the protesters until the company pays them.

“Now Seawolf took a loan from First Bank and bought rigs and they couldn’t operate the rigs very well and they were losing money, they were losing contracts, they couldn’t pay back the loan to First Bank.

“So First Bank asked us to buy the loan so we bought the loan from First Bank and we called the owners of Seawolf to come and pay their loans, come and tell us how you want to pay the loan, for over a year we were looking at the figures we couldn’t agree, Seawolf is not in a position to do business and to pay the loans.”

AMCON, Jega insisted, took a decision to appoint a receiver, “Whose work is to take over the company, take over the assets and call everybody and say ok, who is owing Seawolf pay me, who is Seawolf owing I will also pay back whoever Seawolf is owing.

“We will pay them. That’s what I told them. I said we will pay you when we sell the assets. Of course I sympathise with them. I’m also a worker, I wouldn’t want my employer to owe me for years, not to pay my entitlements. I sympathise with them but whatever line of action a human being has to take, you have to look at who really is the culprit, who is the victim. AMCON is also a victim, we are not oppressors we are also a victim of Seawolf,” Jega said.

– Ali Smart

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