Total Moves 95% Abuja Staff To PH, Lagos

The French oil giant, Total
Exploration and Production Nigeria (TEPN) has commenced mass transfer of staff in its Abuja corporate office to Port Harcourt and Lagos.
An official of the company told The Tide on Friday that the mass transfer which began two weeks ago was nearing conclusion and that most of those affected have since last Thursday resumed duties in their new offices in Lagos or Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital.
The official who pleaded anonymity, however, said, it was not another move for huge retrenchment as has been rumoured.
According to him, the mass relocation of staff away from Abuja, the Federal Capital was another strategy aimed at cutting down cost in response to the dwindling oil price in the world market.
“The huge staff movement which will at last affect about 95 per cent of the workforce in Abuja has nothing to do with retrenchment by any means.
“For now, it is only those affected by retirement that are leaving the company and as you know, this is normal,” he explained.
It was insinuated that large number of staff of TEPN have been penciled down for retrenchment in view of the falling oil prices and the need for the company to save cost and all manner of wastages.
The Anglo-Dutch Oil giant, Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) Thursday announced that it would sack 6,500 staff and will also cut investment to $30 billion as a strategy to handle the extended period of low oil prices and the challenging times facing the industry.
The Tide gathered that the huge transfer affected all categories of Total staff.
However, in response to the hard times facing the oil industry, TEPN had earlier laid off a huge chunk of its staff and divested, its substantial investments, as is common in most major oil multinationals in Nigeria, as a way of cutting down cost.

Chris Oluoh