15 September 2005
Lagos — WORKERS of the Kaduna Refining and Petrochemical Company (KRPC) have barred from its premises the China National Petroleum Company, Co-investor of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) set to take over the running of the local company.
Announcing the ban order at a joint news conference addressed by members of the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas (NUPENG) and Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) in Kaduna Tuesday, their spokesman, Mr. Suleiman Enessy, said the Chinese foreign partners of the NNPC had been declared unwanted by the refinery staff.
He said the ban order was due to the "deliberate refusal" of government officials to enter into mutual discussion on labour matters relating to the proposed handover of the management of the KRPC to the Chinese company.
Enessy also said the ban was necessitated by the government's inability to summon the leadership of NUPENG and PENGASSAN to a round-table discussion to iron out their contentious labour matters amicably.
He explained that the workers were not being confrontational in their demand, saying the operation of the refinery would never be disrupted.
The spokesman, however, gave an assurance that the ban order would be lifted immediately the federal government reversed its decision and called the workers for dialogue.
He stressed that the workers were not opposed to government's privatisation of the nation's oil sector.
Enessy dismissed fears that the five-day industrial action embarked upon by staff of the NNPC across the country would further worsen the situation in the international oil market, saying their demonstration was peaceful and non-violent.
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