Two Cotonou bound boats laden with products suspected to be illegally refined Automotive Gas Oil (Diesel Fuel) concealed in plastic tanks at the Warri Naval Base in Delta last Friday

The Petroleum and
National Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) has called for overhaul of the operational system in the upstream, midstream and downstream aimed at bringing a positive change in the oil and gas industry.
According to the association, this could only be achieved through putting in place a formidable Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), stepping of security of lives and properties, including oil and gas infrastructure as well as curbing pipeline vandalism and crude oil theft.
This was contained in this year’s May Day message by PENGASSAN to Nigerians, signed by the association’s President, Comrade Francis Olabode Johnson and the Acting General Secretary, Comrade Lumumba Akugbawa.
The statement also said  that the overhaul would ensure that refineries function at optimal level as to increase local refining, enhance effective distribution of petroleum products in the country, better funding of Joint Venture operations and improved Nigerian content in material, technical and human sections of the sector.
PENGASSAN feared that the ongoing reforms and the global economic crises occasioned by the continuous fall in oil prices will pose more challenges which require synergy among the government, employers and labour to stem the negative impact on the nation’s economy as well as workers.
“There is need for the three parties to convene a stakeholders’ forum for the purpose of holistically examining the challenges confronting the nation’s oil and gas industry and proffer solutions to the problems”, it said.
It noted that to engender a robust and efficient industrial relations, employers and the labour unions must have mutual respect and appreciate workplace relationship as it relates to freedom and choice to unionization and right to collective bargaining and stressed that agreements that are collectively signed must be strictly adhered to by all parties.
The statement frowned at what is termed unprocedural disengagement of workers by employers using redundancy, divestments or global economic crises as excuses and insisted that workers must employ all legitimate means to address all forms of unprocedual termination and severance process.
The union expressed regret that casual and contract employment were tactically and steadily taking over permanent employment as employers have formed the attitude of nugrating core and support jobs to contracts and agency labour.
The statement stated that “today workers are confronted with employment, economic, social, environmental and political challenges that impact on their welfare and lives as well as their families”.

Chris Oluoh