Oil workers commence strike over alleged anti-labour policies

[Mirror]

Long queues resurface in Abuja

Long queues have resurfaced in most petrol stations in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, and its environs, following the commencement of a three-day warning strike by the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers, NUPENG, over alleged unfair labour practices by oil multinationals.

The NUPENG strike is coming few days to the expiration of the ultimatum issued by the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association, PENGASSAN, which has also threatened to embark on an indefinite strike, citing anti labour policies and poor working conditions amongst several issues.

The three-day warning strike by NUPENG is also to protest the refusal of the National Association of Road Transport Owners, NARTO, to implement the signed collective bargaining agreement that was reached with the tanker drivers, in addition to protest the poor state of roads across the country.

In a statement in Lagos, NUPENG General Secretary, Mr. Isaac Aberare said the union's call for a stakeholders' meeting in the oil and gas sector in order to address the various issues had also been ignored by the government and companies involved. According to him, the union has directed all its members in the depots and loading bays to stop loading petroleum products for the next three days.

Aberare emphasised that if after the three-day warning strike, nothing was done to address the situation, the oil and gas workers will be forced to embark on an indefinite strike.

The National President of NUPENG, Comrade Agbase Igwe, who spoke with journalists shortly after a brief meeting with the key members of the union in Abuja, also said the warning strike was declared to bring government to the negotiation table with a view to addressing some critical challenges facing the country's oil and gas sector.

According to him, some of the crucial issues that require urgent government attention include unfair treatment of Nigerian workers by the IOCs and the need to evolve policies that conform to the international best practices. He alleged that rather than calling the IOCs to order, the Federal Government was giving them tacit support.

For instance, Agbase stated that the offices of Shell and Chevron had been condoned by the military the police, who are being financed by taxpayers' money to protect them.

The labour leader lamented that while President Goodluck Jonathan meant well for the Nigerian people, the ministers through whom he is expected to deliver on his promises are working at derailing the process. He therefore called on the President to weed the bag eggs in his cabinet in the overall interest of the people. On the way forward, he said the union would have a council meeting with the leadership of PENGASSAN today to review the strike.

The long queues in Abuja led to many commuters being stranded at bus stops as the few long buses that replaced the banned small buses, otherwise known as Araba were not on the road, allegedly owing to lack of diesel.

Mr Ibrahim Isa, the station manager of Conoil, Central Area, told our correspondent that the queues started building up at about 9am. Isa attributed the development to panic buying, saying people rushed to filling stations to fill their tanks before scarcity starts.

Our correspondent reports that product is available in most major fuel stations like Oando, Total, Mobil, Forte Oil among others as attendant were seen busy selling to motorists.

Meanwhile, a meeting called at the instance of the Petroleum Resources Minister, Mrs. Diezani Madueke to parley with the striking union was disrupted by protesting staff of the ministry.

In Oyo State, motorists may be in for a hard time as the state chapter of NUPENG said its members have embarked on an indefinite strike over the arrest of a tanker driver by the state environmental officers. NUPENG Chairman in the state, Otunba Salmon Oladiti, made the disclosure while speaking with journalists in Ibadan yesterday.

He maintained that there will be no going back on the indefinite strike until the arrested tanker driver identified as Olaolu Fakunle is released from Agodi Prison "unconditionally".

But in a swift reaction, the state Commissioner for Environment and Habitat, Barrister Lowo Obisesan, accused the tanker drivers of attempting to hold the state government and its people to ransom.

He said the jailed tanker driver was convicted by the state Environmental Tribunal duly put in place by the state House of Assembly, insisting that if members of NUPENG are dissatisfied they have option of appealing against the conviction. Obisesan maintained that members of NUPENG in the state cannot be above the law as the state government is committed to restoring sanity into the state.

National Mirror