Leadership (Abuja)
News Agency of Nigeria
6 October 2008
Community Watch of Nigeria , an NGO in Akwa Ibom State, has decried the abuse of the country's labour laws by companies operating at the Qua Iboe oil fields.
The President of the NGO, Mr Samingo Etukakpan, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN ) at Eket in Akwa Ibom that the NGO was worried that the unfair labour practices were getting worse.
Etukakpan said that, that was in spite of the Federal government's local content policy.
He said that the development had increased the unemployment situation in the area and impacted negatively on the economy.
His words: "It is, indeed, disturbing that government had formulated the local content policy to increase the participation of Nigerians in the oil and gas sector, but nothing has changed.
"We still have illegal expatriates who take jobs reserved for Nigerians under the labour laws, leaving the sector perpetually in the hands of foreigners."
He said the foreign oil service companies now use vessels and barges to convey the illegal aliens to work in oil installations in the high seas within the country's territorial waters.
The president added that they did the illegal transactions without the knowledge of the immigration authorities.
He said the NGO discovered that an oil servicing firm engaged by Mobil Producing Nigeria (MPN) for maintenance work at Edop crude production platform was using illegal expatriates.
He stated that the expatriates included mechanics, electricians, storekeepers and crane operators, adding that such jobs were not allowed in the allocation of expatriate quotas. (NAN)
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