PENGASSAN intensifies strike action ---TheGuardian Nigeria

• Fuel queues return to Abuja
• Jetties, depots in Lagos, PH deserted

The Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) has insisted that the strike action by the union is on-going. This happens as fuel queues have staged a dramatic re-entry into Abuja and motorists have begun to form long queues in most filling stations across the city.

PENGASSAN claimed last night that there was total compliance by its members to the directive to embark on an indefinite strike yesterday.

It said the workers started the strike on Thursday as many PENGASSAN members stayed away from their offices. “In Abuja, few members that reported for duty early this morning were turned back from the NNPC Towers, except for NUPENG members and management staff who went about their normal duties. There was total compliance in government agencies, as staff stayed away from their offices. In Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA), Nigeria Nuclear Regulatory Agency (NNRA), Pipelines and Products Marketing Company (PPMC) and the Petroleum Equalization Fund (PEFMB) headquarters, virtually all offices were locked,” it explained.

The union added that in Port Harcourt, the strike was also successful, as many members were not in their offices. The monitoring team that went round the city reported that members in NNPC office, the Port Harcourt Refinery Company (PHRC), Shell and Total fully complied with the strike order. It noted that at the NNPC depot in Port Harcourt, the management of the depot initially tried to use Industrial Trainees (IT) and contract staff to load/off load fuel trucks but before 12:00pm, the leadership of the depot were called to order and the loading was stopped.

According to the union, in the Warri zone, there was total compliance, except for members in Chevron, who early in the morning were in their offices but later joined by vacating their offices around 10:00 a.m. “There was no lifting of petroleum products in Warri or anywhere in the zone as our members fully complied with the strike directive,” a source among the monitoring team said.

“Members of the Association in Lagos also stayed away from their offices and there was no lifting of petroleum products at the depots and loading bays. Even those at the jetties and other critical sections where crude are lifted in Port Harcourt and Lagos also abandoned their duty posts.

“In Kaduna, there was total compliance with the strike directive, as members stayed out of their offices. Most offices in the Kaduna Refinery and Petrochemical Company (KRPC) were empty and there was no lifting of petroleum products from the depots. We commend the support of our NUPENG members here who supported PENGASSAN in ensuring that there was total compliance.”

Speaking on the strike action, the PENGASSAN National Public Relations Officer, Emmanuel Ojugbana, who also visited some offices in Warri confirmed full compliance by members and said that the strike is not only about the members of the Association but about the survival of the Oil & Gas industry in Nigeria.
He said: “The inability of the government to fund the Joint Venture (JV) operations and settle Cash Call arrears has denied the country of new investments, while the existing operations and activities are being stalled. This has resulted to lack of new job opportunities, while our members, who have been in employments, are losing their jobs because their employers could not meet their salary obligations to them. “The Union demands the immediate action of Government to address this funding/cash call arrears to avoid the imminent collapse of the industry.

The Government must provide feasible guidelines to clear all outstanding payments going forward and evolve a pragmatic system of funding the Joint Venture (JV) operations.”

Insisting the industrial action that commenced yesterday was forced on PENGASSAN by the government, the Trade Union Congress chairman in Rivers State, Chika Onuegbu, also said beside the severe underfunding of JV operations and non- payment of cash calls leading to unprecedented cash call arrears of some US $ 7billion by the federal government and refusal to address the myriad of industrial relations issues facing the industry, as well as lack of commitment to fast tract the PIB forced oil workers to proceed on the strike.

He explained that it is unfortunate that the federal government’s team has no respect for principles of social dialogue and a call to PENGASSAN to try alternative measures aimed at resolving the issues in the Nigerian oil and gas industry.

“PENGASSAN is sympathetic of the Nigerian people and that is why it has always preferred dialogue and engagement to industrial action. However, when maintaining industrial peace and harmony through social dialogue is treated with disdain by the government’s team, the Association has no option than to try industrial action. Perhaps, that might work and get the federal government to address the myriad of issues which have led to the mass sacking of oil and gas workers, reduction in JV programme budgets, and the looming collapse of the Nigerian oil and gas industry” he said.

He explained that whilst Nigeria is still dancing around the problems in the oil and gas sector, other countries are working with the oajors to mobilise investments and expand their oil and gas industry even under the low oil price.

He said just two days ago, it was reported that Kazakhstan and a group of oil companies led by Chevron have approved a $36.8 billion plan to boost production at the Central Asian country’s Tengiz field. “There is no gainsaying that the Nigeria Oil and Gas industry is currently going through its worst nightmares. While the country is said to be working towards the diversification of its economy, the truth remains that the oil and gas sector is still and will continue to remain at least in the next five to 10 years the main revenue earner for the country. Moreover diversification requires investment in new sectors which will be funded by revenue from oil and gas,” he said.