Barring any last-minute change, members of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria and the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers will begin withdrawal of their services from offices and oil locations.
They said the threat was against the sale of the Nigeria Agip Oil Company and Eni Nigeria to Oando Plc without due process being followed.
The threat is from oil and gas workers in the PENGASSAN branch in Mobil, Chevron, NUPENG, Total Energies and Shell companies.
They said the planned withdrawal of their services was in solidarity support of NAOC staff over the purported sale of Agip company to Oando Plc.
This was contained in a solidarity letter, on Saturday, to the PENGASSAN Agip branch Chairman, signed by Shell branch Chairman, Ikechukwu Onyefuru, Chevron branch secretary, Pepple Soparaipirim, Total Energies branch secretary – Abubakar Ibrahim, NUPENG General secretary, Afolabi Otawale and Mobil branch Chairman, Aniete Udoh and sent to our corr correspondent.
According to the letter, they are ready and willing to take any step including withdrawal of services to drive home their demand and ensure the right thing is done.
The letter read: “We write to express our absolute solidarity with all your members after reading with shock and consternation; the purported treacherous route chosen by your Management in dealing with our NAOC Comrades in the disposal of its equity in its JV assets to Oqndo Oil Ltd without recourse to outstanding financial obligations to workers.
“We share in the pains and emotional trauma which you are currently facing and humbly state that you should continue to stand very firm and resolute as you go through this phase of the struggle against this injustice meted to staff and contracted staff members of PENGASSAN.
“In line with the principles of fairness, equity, and social partnership, we believe that all the in-house unions in NAOC should be engaged by Management before, during and after the divestment to address the necessary employee welfare and benefits as will be reasonably demanded by the Unions.
“Furthermore, and to forestall any negative precedence in the industry, we plead that you continue to insist that
issues of comprehensive and proper compensation, Pension and Redundancy be exhaustively addressed transparently to the satisfaction of the in-house unions and in full compliance with the provisions of the Pension Reform Act of 2014.
“The CBA must be treated with the sanctity it deserves at this moment.
“We hereby express full solidarity with our comrades and other affected Nigerian Staff of NAOC and wish to declare that we are willing to take any step including but not limited to service withdrawal to show our resolve on
this subject.”
Madukwe B. Nwabuisi is an accomplished journalist renown for his fearless reporting style and extensive expertise in the field. He is an investigative journalist, who has established himself as a kamikaze reporter.
