NUPENG Strike Threat Negotiation Shifted To August 3

Talks to shelve the planned strike by the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) commenced on Tuesday in Abuja, but negotiation was shifted to August 3.

A statement signed by Emmanuel Aziken, the Special Assistant on Media To the Minister of Labour and Productivity, said the new date was to allow officials of NUPENG who were out of the country to return. NUPENG issued the threat to embark on strike because of the bad state of the nation’s road network. NUPENG had last week given the Federal Government a 21-day ultimatum to address what it cited as the poor state of the nation’s road network, failing which the union would stop supply of petroleum products to Abuja.

Emeka Wogu, the Minister of Labour and Productivity who chaired the meeting, said that talks could, however, not take off fully due to the absence of senior officials of NUPENG. “The reason for calling off the meeting today is because of the absence of NUPENG because we cannot come to full conclusion without hearing the side of NUPENG because that is the essence of dialogue.

“In labour issues, you need the issue of tripartism and issues that are before us are raised by NUPENG and they are not here to elaborate on the issues.

“So anything we do here would be based on speculations, but it has afforded us the opportunity to understand steps taken by government.

“Even me as a member of cabinet, I did not know that these steps have been taken by my colleague in the Ministry of Works and they need to be commended.