Major Fuel Scarcity Looms as Oil & Gas Workers Down Tools

Nigerians may be thrown into a fresh round of acute fuel shortage this Christmas season as  oil and gas workers today begun a nationwide indefinite strike to protest the inability of the government to properly maintain the nation’s four refineries and reduce pump prices of petroleum products in line with the slump in global prices of crude oil.

Elsewhere, Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN) also said it will go on strike following the refusal of the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) to release  the approval for the first quarter fuel importation.

But oil and gas workers under President of Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association (PENGASSAN) in a statement said that the strike was also to force the government to evolve new strategies to combat pipeline vandalisation and crude oil theft that have impacted negatively on the nation’s economy and employment opportunities in the country.

National Union of Petroleum and Gas Workers of Nigeria (NUPENG) its sister body said that it will down tools today over the sack of Mrs. Elo, national zonal secretary of PENGASSAN, Port Harcourt zone.

According to PENGASSAN, the other reasons for the strike include delay in the passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), global crude oil prices slump, non -implementation of the Nigeria Oil and Gas Industry Content Development, (NOGICD), Act to reflect Nigerians in management positions and expatriate quota law, and the appalling state of access roads to refineries and oil depots and facilities.

PENGASSAN,  said insecurity all over the country that has led to the death of their members; appointments in government agencies in disregards to succession planning; compulsory deduction from workers’ salaries for the National Housing Fund, NHF, casualisation and contract staffing and unfair labour practices by companies and government agencies also forms part of their grievances.

Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria on the other hand, said its members were now on the edge over the inability of the PPPRA to release the importation approval.

Comrade Achese Igwe, national president of NUPENG, speaking at Okrika, Rivers State yesterday, said that there would be no going back on the action until the zonal secretary is re-instated.

Igwe said that the decision of the management of Total Nigeria to sack the PENGASSAN Zonal Secretary in Port Harcourt was unacceptable, adding that the strike notice was not a threat but would commence today. He also stated that the union would graduate the processes.

He said: “The truth is that we cannot fold our hands to see these foreign investors coming with punitive measures in our country. We are embarking on strike because we have driven our processes to a level.

“We are saying, reinstate this woman. She was elected by the people to serve the people. But all of a sudden, you said no because she was elected as a woman; that the only thing you can do is to sack her and then you queried her. You begin to tell her that she must go on leave of absence. Fine, you offered a leave of absence but the union needs to sit down and X-ray the impact of that. But the next thing we saw was a sack.