Business
NUPENG, PENGASSAN threaten strike as over 3,000 workers are sacked
As Nigeria continues to wallow in unprecedented recession under the current government, not less than 3,000 Nigerians have lost their jobs in the oil industry alone, claimed two oil and gas sector unions.
The Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) and the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), the two major unions in the oil and gas sector, have therefore vowed to embark on strike if the sack continues.
The unions which stated this on Wednesday said it was only giving the Federal Government 21-day ultimatum to stop international oil companies in Nigeria from sacking their members.
Igwe Achese, National President of NUPENG, told newsmen in Effurun Delta State at the end of the Central Working Committee (CWC) meeting of the union that government has no option but to urgently stop the mass sacking of its members to avoid grounding the industry.
Some of the oil companies he accused include, Chevron Nigeria Limited, ExxonMobil, Pan Ocean, Sapiem, and Hercules oil and gas limited.
He said, “More than 3,000 of our members are affected. Chevron alone is about 1,500; Mobil is about 1,000; the entire workers of Hercules Oil & Gas are being asked to go home; Pan Ocean have since closed shop and are gone.
Read also: Buhari seeks to borrow $30bn, wants National Assembly consent
“We are now asking ourselves where we are heading with the industry. We have lost so much of Nigerian personnel working in the oil and gas industry. What is happening in Nigeria cannot be compared to what is happening in other African countries. We want government to wake up and address some of these issues.”
Apart from global fall of oil price, the attacks of oil installations in the Niger Delta region by the Niger Delta Avengers and other militant groups have adversely affected many oil companies and the country in general.
Recent figures released by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) indicated that oil production has been enormously cut by almost half, from an average of 2.1 million barrels to about 1.1 million barrels per day.
By Ebere Ndukwu …
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