As the management of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) plans to rehabilitate refineries to optimise capacity utilisation in the year, oil workers in the country have warned the Federal Government against the sale of national refineries as scraps.
The Group Executive Councils of National Union of Petroleum and Natural gas Workers (NUPENG) and the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) said the step was a drift from the initial position which the union had rejected.
It noted that the proposal to adopt a new model that would bring investors to increase productivity without necessarily having to lose jobs was commendable.
Secretaries of the two groups, Comrade Sulaiman Sulaiman of PENGASSAN and Comrade Uche Amara of UNPENG GEC, said they had been following the Group Managing Director (GMD) of NNPC, Maikanti Baru’s 12 Focus Area drive towards revamping the corporation with interest.
It noted that the administration of the GMD has been workers’friendly in the evaluation of its programmes and listed promotions, redeployment, rehabilitation of refineries as well as other welfare programmes, including wage and retirement benefits.
“We believe that this practice if sustained will continue to boost staff morale and increase productivity”, the unions said, and promised to be committed in partnering with him to increase productivity and enhance welfare of workers.’’
