Crisis Brews In Bonny NLNG,Mobil …As The Youth Kick Over Employment List

Piqued by the absence of Rivers indigenes, especially those from the Bonny ethnic extraction in the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas Company,(NLNG) 2012 Technicians Training and Employment list, recently made available to the public, youths of Bonny are said to be gearing up for a showdown with the multinational gas company.

NLNG had recently enlisted 33 names as beneficiaries of its 2012 Technicians Training and Employment programme in which names of Rivers indigenes were conspicuously missing for reasons described by some persons as a wanton display of impunity.

Some of the youths who expressed their displeasure over the development said they were  ready to fight the matter to its logical end.

One of the Bonny youths, Thompson Beresiri who looked incensed said the injustice must stop, our leaders had looked the other way while our rights were infringed upon by these companies.

“The issue of local content has been flawed because government has demonstrated lack of political will to tackle the matter head on; however, youths are now prepared to do it their own way to ensure they safeguard their future”, he said.

According to a clergy man in the area who craved anonymity, “you can see that the list is lacking in local content. This people lost their mind and memory when compiling this list or better still the Nigerian factor played out well to the exclusion of those who should at most benefit from this employment considering that they are mostly impacted by the negative effects of gas flaring and the attendant hazard of gradual elimination”.

The Leader of Bonny Youth Federation, Mr. Gift Furo in his remarks said “I don’t want to believe this is true. We have seen the list and have presently instituted a meeting with the management of NLNG to further get clarity on why out of the 33 persons selected no Bonny or Rivers indigene were considered. “I think it is the right thing to do as a responsible youth body before going further with other options”.

He said, the list  on display is nothing but a charade that shall never be accepted. He urged the youths to calm down while the dialogue option is exhausted, promising to do all within his powers to ensure that NLNG does the right thing.

Sources reveal that the Rivers state Governor, Rt Hon Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, the State Security Service, (SSS), state police commissioner, army brigade commander among others, have been contacted to intervene on the matter to avert situations where youths will take  to the streets in protest.

Meanwhile, some disengaged contract workers in Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited in Qua Iboe Terminal (QIT) have demanded N1 billion as terminal benefits.

Our correspondent reports that the workers, had last week, blocked the access road to the OIT in protest against non-payment of their severance benefits.

The workers, numbering about 1,000, were demanding N10 million each for the workers that were affected in a recent downsizing exercise by the company.

The aggrieved workers said they made the demand at a meeting with officials of the company and security agencies drafted to secure the firm’s facilities in Ibeno.

Mr Godwin Idim, spokesman for the disengaged workers, who confirmed the demands, said it that their demand was tabled at a meeting with officials of the oil firm at the weekend.

“We were compelled to protest the violation of an existing agreement we signed with the representative of Mobil management in 2007 when this rationalisation was mooted.

“It was then agreed that any worker affected shall be paid a terminal benefit using the collective bargaining agreement of contract staff, but they sacked 1,000 of us without recourse to that agreement.

Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited, a subsidiary of ExxonMobil, U.S, outsources most of its labour needs to contractors who recruit unskilled and semi-skilled workers mainly from the host communities in Akwa Ibom.

The oil company, had in a statement signed by Nigel Cookey-Gam, Mobil’s Communications Manager, disclosed that the workers’ protest did not disrupt its crude output.

“Mobil Producing Nigeria (MPN), operator of the NNPC/MPN Joint Venture, confirms that a group of third party contractors’ personnel yesterday staged a protest on the road leading to its QIT in Akwa Ibom State.

“There was no disruption to production,” Nigel Cookey said.

Director, Office of Attorney-General of the Federation, Mr Pius Akpe (left) listens to the Director of Enlightenment , and representative of the Commissioner for Information and Communications, Rivers State , Mr Paulinus Nsirim during a sensitization campaign for Journalists on Freedom of Information Act, at the Songhai farm, Bunu in Tai LGA, last Monday. Photo: Chris Monyanaga