Oil workers under the aegis of the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers and the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria will commence a nationwide strike on Monday (today) to protest the inability of the Federal Government to carry out turnaround maintenance of the nation’s four refineries and reduce pump prices of petrol in line with the slump in global prices of crude oil.
They said in a joint statement made available to our correspondents on Sunday by the Media and Information Officer, PENGASSAN, Mr. Babatunde Oke, that the strike would affect all oil and gas operations in the upstream, midstream and downstream sectors.
The President, PENGASSAN, Mr. Francis Johnson, in a telephone interview with one of our correspondents on Sunday night, confirmed the strike report.
“We are starting the strike by tomorrow (today) and as events unfold, we will let people know,” he said.
The NUPENG National President, Mr. Achese Igwe, also said on Sunday that the strike was also to protest the alleged sacking of the Zonal Secretary of the Senior Staff Association (Port Harcourt Zone), Mrs. Elo Ogbonda, by Total Exploration and Production.
Other reasons listed for the strike are delay in the passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill, non-implementation of the Nigeria Oil and Gas Industry Content Development Act expected to reflect Nigerians in management positions and expatriate quota law, appalling state of access roads to refineries and oil depots’ facilities, insecurity all over the country that has reportedly led to the death of their members, casualisation of workers and unfair labour practices by companies and government agencies.
The oil workers said the strike was also to ensure that the government evolved new strategies to combat pipeline vandalism and crude oil theft, which had adversely affected the nation’s economy.