PENGASSAN Strike In Nation’s Interest – TUC

The Chairman of the Trade Union Congress (TUC) in Rivers State, Comrade Chika Onuegbu, has said that the nationwide strike, embarked upon by members of the Petroleum and National Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) was in the best interest of Nigerians.
The Tide recalls that last Friday, oil workers across the country, embarked on strike to protest the non-payment of over $7billion joint venture cash call obligations to oil multinationals by the Federal Government, the mass sack of workers by oil companies, insecurity in the work environment as a result of militants’ attacks, among other issues.
Onuegbu, a staff of Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria, whose tenure elapses as TUC chairman in Rivers State on July 21, 2016, said this in Port Harcourt while fielding questions from journalists over the effectiveness of the industrial action.
The TUC chairman, who was PENGASSAN’s immediate past national industrial relations officer (NIRO), stated that the refusal of the Federal Government to offset it’s share of $7billion liabilities in the joint venture agreement with the oil and gas companies had led to the unprecedented sack of workers in the industry in the last couple of months.
He said: “The actions of government are having greater consequences on the economy. Government has not offset the liabilities of over $7billion owed the joint venture partners in the oil and gas industry.
“Our people working in the oil and gas industry are being sacked. By government, not being able to invest in the oil and gas industry, the returns in the oil and gas industry has reduced, and because of that, the allocation to the federation account is going down,” he added.
Meanwhile, The Tide reports that there has been total compliance of PENGASSAN members with the directive to embark on an indefinite strike since last Friday.
In Port Harcourt, the strike was hugely successful, as many members were not in their offices.
When The Tide visited some of the companies, especially NNPC office on Moscow Road, the Port Harcourt Refinery Company (PHRC) at Alesa-Eleme, Shell Industrial Area at Rumuobiakani, and Total Complex in Trans Amadi, PENGASSAN officials were seen blocking the main gates to their office premises, with no activity inside.
At the NNPC depot in Port Harcourt, the management of the depot initially tried to use industrial trainees (IT) and contract staff to load/offload fuel trucks, but before noon, the leadership of the depot was called to order and the loading was stopped.
Some of the PENGASSAN leaders, who spoke to The Tide, confirmed that their members fully complied with the directive of the national leadership to embark on strike, insisting that the purported reports that the union was to put the strike on hold until after a meeting with Federal Government representatives today, were only part of ‘propaganda’ by those spreading it.
At the Warri zone, there was total compliance except for members in Chevron who had reported to work before 7am but later joined by vacating their offices around before 10 a.m.
“There was no lifting of petroleum products in Warri or anywhere in the zone as our members fully complied with the strike directive,” a PENGASSAN official said.
In Abuja, few members of the association who reported for duty early in the morning were turned back from the NNPC Towers, except for NUPENG members and management staff who went about their normal duties.
A release issued by the National Public Relations Officer of PENGASSAN, Comrade Emmanuel Ojugbana, stated that there was total compliance in government agencies, as the staff stayed away from their offices.
At the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA), Nigeria Nuclear Regulatory Agency (NNRA), Pipelines and Products Marketing Company (PPMC) and the Petroleum Equalisation Fund (PEFMB) headquarters, virtually all offices were locked.
Ojugbana said: “Members of the association in Lagos also stayed away from their offices, and there was no lifting of petroleum products at the depots and loading bays.
“Even those at the jetties and other critical sections where crude are lifted in Port Harcourt and Lagos also abandoned their duty posts.
“In Kaduna, there was total compliance with the strike directive as members stayed out of their offices.
“Most offices in the Kaduna Refinery and Petrochemical Company (KRPC) were empty and there was no lifting of petroleum products from the depots.
“We commend the support of our NUPENG members here who supported PENGASSAN in ensuring that there was total compliance.”
Ojugbana confirmed full compliance by members, saying that the strike is not only about the members of the association but about the survival of the oil and gas industry in Nigeria.
He said: “The inability of the government to fund the Joint Venture (JV) operations and settle cash call arrears has denied the country of new investments while the existing operations and activities are being stalled.
“This has resulted in lack of new job opportunities while our members who have been in employments are losing their jobs because their employers could not meet their salary obligations to them.
“The union demands the immediate action of government to address the challenge of funding/cash call arrears to avoid the imminent collapse of the industry.
“The government must provide feasible guidelines to clear all outstanding payments going forward and evolve a pragmatic system of funding the Joint Venture (JV) operations,” he said.

Susan Serekara-Nwikhaha