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TUC Blames FG For Oil Industry Job Losses
The Trade Union Congress (TUC) has heaped the blame for the crisis rocking the upstream and downstream oil and gas industry, which has forced 150,000 workers into unemployment market, on Federal Government’s lack of political will to address frontally the many challenges in the critical sector of the economy.
Chairman, TUC, Rivers State chapter, Comrade Chika Onuegbu, who spoke in Port Harcourt, regretted that although the low oil price was a global challenge, the inability of successive governments since 2000 to conclude reforms in the oil and gas sector, and pass the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), was a major local problem that has negatively impacted the industry.
Onuegbu said: “the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), has repeatedly expressed worries over the increasing challenges in the nation’s oil and gas sector, which have led to the loss of 150,000 workers between 2013 and February, 2016″, and government has yet to do anything concrete to save the situation form worsening.
The TUC chairman said that the oil and gas industry has been on a standstill for years due to the inability of government to re-negotiate long expired agreements with industry operators, including joint venture partners, while outstanding labour-related issues have not been addressed, adding that this has no doubt delayed huge foreign direct investments in the sector.
According to him, virtually all JV and Production Sharing Contracts have expired without any serious effort to put new legal frameworks in place to guide operations of the industry. Consequently, oil production and gas regimes have stagnated, thereby adding little or no new value to the nation’s development process.
Onuegbu said: “PENGASSAN is disturbed by the undue delay in the dispensation of justice by the National Industry Court (NLC), prevalence of unfair labour practices and abuse of trade union rights in the oil and gas industry.
“We are also against some companies that have invented nomenclatures such as Individual Contract Agreement (ICA), Secondee, no solicitation, among others, aimed at preventing workers from exercising their constitutional rights to join trade unions and bargain collectively.
“These have led to the sack of 150,000 workers in the oil and gas industry and adversely increased the high rate of criminality, while unleashing untold hardship on the citizenry,” he said.
He linked the persistent scarcity of refined petroleum products to neglect of the refineries by successive governments over the years, adding that the problem of insecurity has increased cost of doing business in Nigeria.
Onuegbu charged government to make the refineries work again, and encourage the building of more refineries and petrochemical plants to boost the diversification of the economy.
The TUC boos also challenged government to fulfil its core mandate to the people by ensuring the security of lives and property so as to reduce the cost of doing business in Nigeria, and create opportunities for employment generation and youth empowerment for economic growth.
He urged the federal and state governments in the Niger Delta region, to quickly intervene and bring pressure to bear on the oil companies to forestall looming strikes and other forms of industrial action which could worsen the already difficult operating environment in the state and country.
Onuegbu warned that if urgent steps are not taken to address the many challenges, the nation’s oil and gas sector could face imminent collapse.
Susan Serekara-Nwikhana
The Nigeria Immigration Service has officially ended passport production at multiple centres, transitioning to a single, centralised system for the first time in 62 years.
Minister of Interior, Dr Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, disclosed this yesterday while inspecting Nigeria’s new Centralised Passport Personalisation Centre at the NIS Headquarters in Abuja.
He stated that since the establishment of NIS in 1963, Nigeria had never operated a central passport production centre, until now, marking a major reform milestone.
“The project is 100 per cent ready. Nigeria can now be more productive and efficient in delivering passport services,” Tunji-Ojo said.
He explained that old machines could only produce 250 to 300 passports daily, but the new system had a capacity of 4,500 to 5,000 passports every day.
“With this, NIS can now meet daily demands within just four to five hours of operation,” he added, describing it as a game-changer for passport processing in Nigeria.
“We promised two-week delivery, and we’re now pushing for one week.
“Automation and optimisation are crucial for keeping this promise to Nigerians,” the minister said.
He noted that centralisation, in line with global standards, would improve uniformity and enhance the overall integrity of Nigerian travel documents worldwide.
Tunji-Ojo described the development as a step toward bringing services closer to Nigerians while driving a culture of efficiency and total passport system reform.
He said the centralised production system aligned with President Bola Tinubu’s reform agenda, boosting NIS capacity and changing the narrative for better service delivery.
The Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) has disbursed N2.225 trillion as federation revenue for the month of August 2025, the highest ever allocation to the three tiers of government and other statutory recipients.
This marks the second consecutive month that FAAC disbursements have crossed the N2 trillion mark.
The revenue, shared at the August 2025 FAAC meeting in Abuja, was buoyed by increases in oil and gas royalty, value-added tax (VAT), and common external tariff (CET) levies, according to a communiqué issued at the end of the meeting.
Out of the N2.225 trillion total distributable revenue, FAAC said N1,478.593 trillion came from statutory revenue, N672.903 billion from VAT, N32.338 billion from the Electronic Money Transfer Levy (EMTL), and N41.284 billion from Exchange Difference.
The communiqué revealed that gross federation revenue for the month stood at N3.635 trillion. From this amount, N124.839 billion was deducted as cost of collection, while N1,285.845 trillion was set aside for transfers, interventions, refunds, and savings.
From the statutory revenue of N1.478 trillion, the Federal Government received N684.462 billion, State Governments received N347.168 billion, and Local Government Councils received N267.652 billion. A further N179.311 billion (13 per cent of mineral revenue) went to oil-producing states as derivation revenue.
From the distributable VAT revenue of N672.903 billion, the Federal Government received N100.935 billion, the states received N336.452 billion, while the local governments got N235.516 billion.
Of the N32.338 billion shared from EMTL, the Federal Government received N4.851 billion, the States received N16.169 billion, and the Local Governments received N11.318 billion.
From the N41.284 billion exchange difference, the Federal Government received N19.799 billion, the states received N10.042 billion, and the local governments received N7.742 billion, while N3.701 billion (13 per cent of mineral revenue) was shared to the oil-producing states as derivation.
The Governing Council of Kenule Beeson Saro-Wiwa Polytechnic, Bori, has decried the inadequate power supply and poor state of infrastructural facilities and equipment at the institution.
The Council also appealed to the government, including Non-Governmental Organisations, agencies, as well as well-meaning Rivers people to intervene to restore and sustain the laudable gesture, dreams and aspirations of the founding fathers of the polytechnic.
The Chairman of the newly inaugurated Council, Professor Friday B. Sigalo, made this appeal during a tour of facilities at the Polytechnic, recently.
Accompanied by members of the team, Prof Sigalo emphasised the position of technology, technical and vocational education in sustainable development.
He noted that with the prospects on ground, and the programmes and activities undertaken in the polytechnic, there is no doubt that the institution would add values to the educational system in our society and foster the desired development, if the existing challenges are jointly tackled.
This was contained in a statement signed by Deputy Registrar, Public Relations, Kenpoly, Innocent Ogbonda-Nwanwu, and made available to The Tide in Port Harcourt.
The chairman who restated the intention of his team of technocrats to ensure that KenPoly enjoys desirable face-lift, said the Council would deliver on its core mandates, accordingly.
Earlier, the Rector, KenPoly Engr. Dr. Ledum S. Gwarah, commended the appointment of Professor Friday B. Sigalo as Chairman of the KenPoly Governing Council.
He described him and his team as seasoned technocrats and expressed confidence in their ability to succeed.
The Rector pledged the management’s support to the Council to ensure that KenPoly resumes its rightful place in the comity of polytechnics in the country.
Facilities visited by the Governing Council include KenPoly workshops, laboratories, skills acquisition centre, library, hostels and medical centre.
Chinedu Wosu
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