Daily Independent (Lagos)
Sylvester Enoghase and Adeola Yusuf
13 January 2009
Lagos — Oil workers in the country have demanded the speedy restructuring of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) by the Federal Government.
The workers under aegis of the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas (NUPENG and Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) who conveyed their demands during a meeting in Abuja with Ministers of Petroleum, Rilwanu Lukman and the minister of state for energy (Petroleum), Odion Ajumogobia alerted the government of a looming industrial crisis over alleged breach of agreement by Belpob/Conoil.
"We wish to alert the Honourable Minister that NUPENG-PENGASSAN has given the Management of Belbop/Conoil 21-day Ultimatum to respect the Communiqu» of October 8, 2007 with NUPENG-PENGASSAN or face labour action. Up till date, Management has been recalcitrant and there are possibility that labour shall be constrained to resort to industrial action if no positive response come from Management after the expiration of the ultimatum," the group threatened.
On their demands for the restructuring of the NNPC the groups disclosed that this would guarantee "operational efficiency, trans-national competition, commercial viability, happy workforce with improved quality of work-life."
According to them, the "present NNPC will be transformed into National Oil Company (NOC), and all the resources and empowerments for effective take-off will be made inherent. We were made to believe that NOC will have all means of ensuring operational efficiency, trans-national competition, commercial viability, happy workforce with improved quality of work-life."
Promising "to collaborate with Government to ensure that Petroleum Industry Bill, with which the NNPC restructuring would be done, is pursued to its logical conclusion rather than being a rhetoric dumped into the annals of history," the two groups stated in a communiqu» signed by NUPENG President, Babtunde Ogun and his counterpart in PENGASSAN, Peter Akpatason: "Our perception of the approved recommendations of the Oil and Gas Policy Reforms Implementation Committee (OGIC) which luckily has been dovetailed into Petroleum Industry Bill is that "it will Foster effective and efficient management of resources and assets and sound repair and maintenance culture; among others."
The groups continued: "It is our believe that all Government departments and agencies in the Oil and Gas Sector will also be appropriately restructured and harmonised and that they will thenceforth exhibit features of adequate funding, efficient limit of authority, proficiency and service deliveries.
"However, we have encountered some features and events that call for your attentions and clarification: We strongly believe that the stipulations on National Oil Company (NOC) in the Petroleum Industry Bill still require some minute details that would, this time, clearly divorce the operations of NOC from bureaucratic bottlenecks and authority constraints.
"We strongly believe that such clauses would allay all misconceptions and fears that NOC may suffer the same fate of political manoeuvring and inadequate empowerment.
In the same vein, the institutional frameworks being created would need clear stipulations for staffing, staff conditions of service, funding of staff pension liabilities and transfer of employees.
Shedding lights on the Petroleum Act of 1969, "which made good provisions to safeguard the interests and opportunity for the jobs and career of nationals working in the Oil and Gas Industry," the duo of NUPENG and PENMGASSAN stated that the "monitoring and enforcement agencies support easy circumvention and breaches of the laws through official compromises that creates avenues for abuse of expatriate registration and renewals; and unjustifiable employment of skilled and trainable graduates as casuals workers for both core and non-core activities with the aids of licensing agencies."
Both Unions "have expressed disagreement with any move that is not in tandem with the enunciations in the Petroleum Industry Bill. We were relieved by the communiqu» signed between the Federal Government and both Unions which reaffirmed that Government will not derail from the OGIC recommendations to retain and refocus the two PPMC and NGC.
"It is however pertinent to us that Government addresses the excesses of BPE and its abuses of mandate limit," they empahsised.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2009 Daily Independent. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
