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| Dr. Chris Ngige |
FEDERAL government has appealed to the Petroleum
and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) to suspend its industrial
action it embarked upon on Friday in the interest of the nation stating the situation
of the economy doesn’t encourage such at the moment does not rather dialogue
and negotiations.
The Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr.
Chris Ngige who made this remark urged the association to see itself more as
part of the government who should be more concerned on the affairs of the
entire nation rather than interests of the association alone which he described
as parochial adding that Nigerians should not panic over buying of petroleum
products as adequate measures are already in place...
“Strike neither solves industrial disputes nor
contributes to industrial growth. Our economy is already reeling from severe
hemorrhage occasioned by decade long mismanagement. Further action, which
stunts the efforts currently being made to reverse the trend, should therefore
be shunned.
“A situation where oil workers leave their
offices and oil loading bases will not make for an increase in oil export nor
assist make available enough petroleum products in this time of deregulation.
This will only compound the vandalism in the Niger Delta, occasioning low
output and export in our OPEC quota, apart from the unwarranted hardship on the
populace.
“The time, therefore, calls for more
patriotism more so when negotiations have already been kick-started with
PENGASSAN and International Oil Companies (IOCs) on most of the areas
especially the issue of cash calls and arbitrary sack of personnel”, Ngige
said.
Speaking on the strike action, the PENGASSAN
National Public Relations Officer, Comrade Emmanuel Ojugbana, who also visited
some offices in Warri, confirmed full compliance by members and said that the
strike was not only about the members of the association but about the survival
of the oil and gas industry in Nigeria.
“The union demands the immediate action of
Government to address this funding/cash call arrears to avoid the imminent
collapse of the industry. The Government must provide feasible guidelines to
clear all outstanding payments going forward and evolve a pragmatic system of
funding the Joint Venture (JV) operations”, Ojugbana said.
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