Workers Strike Stalls Gas Plant Project

Activities at the Septa Gas Plant under construction in Edo Community, Esit Eket in Akwa Ibom were grounded on Thursday due to industrial dispute at the firm’s Central Processing Facility.

The shut down, according to sources at the Uquo Marginal Oil Fields, was sequel to the sack of a construction worker, which was resisted by his colleagues at the site.

When The Tide visited the site of Ekid Gas Plant constructed by ALCON Limited on Thursday, the striking workers were seen outside the gates discussing the incident.

They were, however, unwilling to discuss the incident with newsmen and directed enquiries to the officials of the construction firm.

The Construction Manager of ALCON, Mr Flavio Grosso, also declined to speak with newsmen on the issue.

One of the workers, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the crisis was as a result of agitation by indigenes of the host community to protest the non-implementation of operational areas employment quota.

He explained that the youths, who were assured that unskilled and semi skilled labour would be sourced from the communities hosting the gas plant, were protesting the influx of workers from other places.

The Tide  gathered that officials of the contracting firm, ALCON were holding talks with the aggrieved youths and workers at an undisclosed location to resolve the face-off.

It would be recalled that Uquo Marginal Oil field was awarded to Frontier Oil Limited, an indigenous oil firm, but that the firm failed to locate crude oil in commercial quantities from the oil block.

The development prompted Frontier, the marginal oil field operator to enter into a funding partnership with Septa Energy to develop the gas reserves found in the field.