Fuel scarcity may be imminent as the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) and the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Association (PENGASSAN) have threatened to embark on industrial action.
This was made known in a statement on Friday by the General Secretary of PENGASSAN and NUPENG, Comrade Lumumba Okugbawa and Comrade Adamu Song, respectively.
The plan to shut down the nation’s petroleum industry followed alleged plan to sack thousands of oil workers from an Chevron’s operations nationwide, according to the statement.
Reports indicated that the leaders of the two unions have directed their members in the country to prepare to withdraw their services soon to show displeasure of the alleged plan to sack their workers.
Both unions also urged relevant authorities to stop Chevron Nigeria Limited from embarking on its plan to sack workers in its operations nationwide.
According to them, thousands of their members who are contract workers on M15 and H15 Contracts in Lagos, Warri and Escravos would be affected.
They said it is shocking that Chevron was planning to sack the workers in spite of the ongoing intervention by the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment as well as the established Labour Contract Staffing Guidelines in the oil and gas industry.
“While Chevron has decided to close M-15 and H-15 contracts by October 31, 2018, it is really disturbing to see new contractors being engaged by Chevron management and whose Labour Contract will take effect on November 1, 2018, to start advertising all jobs, in spite of clear provision for ‘roll over’ of the existing workers on the jobs, consequent upon which large numbers of the current workforce are most likely to be abruptly thrown into the Labour market in their own country.
“The leaderships of the two Unions in the oil and gas industry see such arrangement as cruel, callous and by all standards an affront on the Nigerian constituted authority and industry extant rules.
“It has now become quite glaring that Chevron management is overstretching the good intentions of NUPENG and PENGASSAN to entrench peaceful and harmonious industrial relations particularly at a critical time like this when the country is approaching an election year.
“Without mincing words, we are deeply bothered by the purported claims being peddled around by Chevron Management that their action of sacking Nigerian workers is a directive from National Petroleum Investment Management Services (NAPPIMS) and the Nigeria Content Monitoring and Development Board (NCMDB).
“As proactive Unions, that have interest of the nation at heart, we found it appropriate to use this avenue to appeal to the National Assembly, Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Department of State Services (DSS) and other relevant authority to prevail on Chevron Nigeria Limited to follow the line of best practice by exercising restraints and engage in peaceful transition into new contract circle by strictly following established guidelines which provide for ‘roll over’ of workers.
“At this juncture, we are further constrained to notify the general public that NUPENG and PENGASSAN will not hesitate to embark on nationwide industrial action on this matter and we have already placed our members on red alert should the Management of Chevron remains recalcitrant or adamant to rescind its anti-labour decision which is grossly injurious to Nigerian workers who are oil and gas workers and by extension the nation’s economy,” the statement read.
The issue of fuel scarcity has been a perennial problem in the country with many critics describing as an annual event.
This is because, in recent time, the last three months of every year have records of fuel scarcity which saw the prices of transport fare across the nation surge significantly.
To solve the problem, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Ibe Kachikwu, had in May 2016 announced an upward review of PMS pump price by the Federal Government from N86.50 to N145.00, and directed filling stations across the country not to sell the product above the fixed price.
According to Kachikwu, the hike was the only way out of the scarcity and exorbitant prices of N150 to N250 Nigerians were subjected to at many filling stations across the country during yuletide.
In spite of this, the problem persisted, indicating the problem was yet to be resolved as Nigerians did not only pay outrageous prices for the product, but the fuel was not available to satisfy available demands in 2016 and 2017 festive sessions.
Should the oil unions go on strike again, there is high chances there would be a recurrent of the fuel scarcity soon as it was experienced in previous years.
