Major oil workers’ unions, the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas
\n(NUPENG) and the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of
\nNigeria (PENGASSAN) have put off their proposed strike over the Federal
\nGovernment’s plan to put on sale the country’s four refineries.
\nThe indefinite strike was to have started this week and would have
\nparalyzed the entire oil and gas sector.
\nBut the decision to put off the planned strike was informed by
\ngovernment’s resolve to back down on the planned sale of the refineries
\nfollowing an outrage against the move by the unions.
\nWith the resolve to dialogue with the Federal Government over the matter
\nrather than totally paralyzing the oil and gas sector with an indefinite
\nstrike, the Federal Government has agreed to now work with the unions to
\nformulate workable business models and strategies for the refineries
\ninstead of outright sale.<\/p>\n
And in line with the new thinking, the Turn Around Maintenance (TMA) which
\nis already in process by the Ministry of Petroleum Resources would be
\ncontinued.<\/p>\n
The agreement to this effect was arrived at on Tuesday night after a
\nmeeting between the unions and the Federal Government. The meeting was
\norganized by the Minister of Labour and Productivity, Chief Emeka Wogu,
\nin Abuja.
\nPresent at the meeting were the Petroleum Resources Minister, Mrs. Diezani
\nAlison-Madueke; NUPENG President, Mr. Igwe Achese; PENGASSAN President,
\nMr. Babatunde Ogun; Permanent Secretaries of the Ministries Labour and
\nPetroleum Resources, Dr. Clement Illoh and Mr. Danladi Kefasi as well as
\nthe national executive members of the two unions.<\/p>\n
Speaking before the meeting which held behind closed doors began, Wogu had
\nsaid: \u201cWe want to find a common ground to resolve the problems in the oil
\nand gas sector, you all know the issues at stake but we would ensure that
\nwe reach a compromise to avert any strike in the sector.”<\/p>\n
Also speaking before the commencement of the meeting, Alison-Madueke noted
\nthat the meeting was ‘absolutely critical’ on topical issues raised in the
\nlast few days.
\nThe agreement reached at the end of the meeting was jointly signed by the
\nAlison-Madueke, NUPENG and PENGASSAN Presidents, Igwe Achese and Babatunde
\nOgun as well as the General Secretaries of the two unions.<\/p>\n
The agreement which was read out by Wogu said: “Trade unions in the oil
\nand gas sector of the economy namely NUPENG and PENGASSAN have agreed with
\nthe federal government to engage in social dialogue to develop viable and
\nworkable business models for the nation’s refineries.<\/p>\n
“Based on the above understanding, the trade unions in the oil and gas
\nsector shall not embark on any form of industrial actions over the subject
\nmatter.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Major oil workers’ unions, the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas (NUPENG) and the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) have put off their proposed…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21439,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21438","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n