Business
NUPENG Kicks Against Workers’ Retrenchment In Shell, Chevron
The Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) has opposed the plan by both Chevron and Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) to sack 18,500 workers globally, saying such retrenchment was unjustifiable in Nigeria.
In a statement signed by its National President, Igwe Achese, the union said it was worried and concerned about the threat of sacking such alarming number of oil workers.
It called on the Federal Government to halt the move in Nigeria stressing that such sack threat coming after the companies had fully divested from onshore oil fields, describing the sack as one too many in the country.
“It will be morally unjustified for Chevron and Shell to retrench oil workers in Nigeria as they are carting away profits made from deep offshore and joint venture gas projects.
“The union therefore condemned in its entirety the impeding sacking as it will not work with the current efforts of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration to generate employment instead of job losses,” it said.
The statement said, it would amount to derailing the efforts of the government to provide jobs for Nigerians, emphasizing that the oil giants could cut costs by employing Nigerians in positions where expatriates hold sway and are paid 10 times what the Nigerian workers are getting.
The two multinational oil firms, it would be recalled, had recently announced plan to retrench 18,500 oil workers globally because of the dwindling oil prices in the international market.
Investigations by The Tide show that virtually all the major International Oil Companies (IOCs) have substantially shedded their workforce as a way of cutting cost following the steady fall in oil prices.
If implemented, the planned mass sack would throw more Nigerian oil workers into the already saturated labour market.
Chris Oluoh
L-R: Director-General, National Pension Commission, Chinelo Anohu-Amazu, Commissioner for Finance, Mr Adesoji Efuntayo, Commissioner for Technical Services, Reuben Omotawa, and Commissioner for Inspectorate, Prof. Abubakar Kaoje, at the Pension Industry Strategic Retreat in Abuja last Friday
The Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) has said that Bank Verification Number (BVN) enrolments rose by 6.8 per cent year-on-year to 67.8 million as at December 2025, up from 63.5 million recorded in the corresponding period of 2024.
In a statement published on its website, NIBSS attributed the growth to stronger policy enforcement by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the expansion of diaspora enrolment initiatives.
NIBSS noted that the expansion reinforces the BVN system’s central role in Nigeria’s financial inclusion drive and digital identity framework.
Another major driver, the statement said, was the rollout of the Non-Resident Bank Verification Number (NRBVN) initiative, which allows Nigerians in the diaspora to obtain a BVN remotely without physical presence in the country.
A five-year analysis by NIBSS showed consistent growth in BVN enrolments, rising from 51.9 million in 2021 to 56.0 million in 2022, 60.1 million in 2023, 63.5 million in 2024 and 67.8 million by December 2025. The steady increase reflects stronger compliance with biometric identity requirements and improved coverage of the national banking identity system.
However, NIBSS noted that BVN enrolments still lag the total number of active bank accounts, which exceeded 320 million as of March 2025.
The gap, it explained, is largely due to multiple bank accounts linked to single BVNs, as well as customers yet to complete enrolment, despite the progress recorded.