The National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) Central Working Committee (CWC) has condemned the spate of retrenchment of workers and redundancy in the oil companies.
At the end of its meeting on Wednesday, the Union in a communique, said the current spate of redundancies in the gas industry which has led to massive job losses and disturbing and appealed to the federal government to intervene and order the companies to stop the retrenchment.
The communique reads further:
”The CWC-in-session expressed worry about the oil glut, which has necessitated in the downward slide on new investments in the oil and gas industry, and regretted that Chevron Nigeria Limited has closed operations in the East.
The Union disclosed that no fewer than 3,000 oil and gas workers have been sacked so far.
National President of NUPENG, Comrade (Dr) Igwe Achese, who read out the communique, implored the Federal Government to halt the mass retrenchment.
The Conference also kicked against the current strategy of the multinationals to outsource jobs that have existed for several years, describing contract staffing and outsourcing as modern day slavery which must be resisted.
The CWC-in-session therefore urged the Federal Government and the National Assembly to expedite action on the passage of the anti-casualisation bill pending in the National Assembly.
On Anti- Union Posture of IOC’s, the CWC-in-session noted that the anti-union posture of the International Oil Companies (IOC’S) was unbecoming and not in tandem with the dictates of the constitution which stipulates freedom of association and the ILO Convention of which Nigeria is a signatory on the right to organize and belong to a Union.
NUPENG urged the Federal government and the National Assembly to call for a major stakeholders meeting to iron out all the grey areas in the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) in order to allow for speedy passage.
The Conference said it would resist the proposed sale of National Assets and implored the Government to look at other areas to revamp the economy.
The Conference in session also frowned at the deplorable state of roads across the country and called on the Government to pay all contractors to fully return to site, rather than the piece meal approach to work now,
“The CWC-in-session states that the dilapidated roads have led to accidents, fire incidents, tankers and trucks falling off the road.The Conference in session calls on the Federal government to address this issue as we approach the dry season.”
“The CWC in session x-rayed the state of the economy and believes that a lot still needs to be done to put it on a sound track. It calls on the Federal government to urgently address the challenges posed by inflation which has risen to 17.9 percent and the non-payment of workers’ salaries at the local government and state level”.
“The Conference notes that there is hunger in the land and wants the Government to address the foreign exchange problems and diversify the economy”.
“The Conference commends the current efforts at fighting corruption but wants it to be all encompassing, so that it does not look as it is one sided”.
“The CWC-in-session also commends the successes so far recorded in the fight against Boko Haram in the North- East. It calls on the Federal government to boost the morale of the fighting force by improving on their welfare and armament in order to completely win the war.
The Conference wants the Federal government through its relevant agencies to stop kidnapping of citizens with the introduction of new technologies to track the perpetrators of such acts and bring them to book”.
The Communique was signed by the National President of NUPENG, Comrade (Dr) Igwe Achese and General Secretary, Comrade Joseph Ogbebor.
