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Tag: National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers

  • NUPENG confirms Afolabi as Gen Sec

    The National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) has confirmed Comrade Olawale Afolabi as its General Secretary. He has been acting for three months.

    Afolabi has served the union for over two decades.

    According to the union, he is known for the creation, development and launch of viable operations with robust, deep and ingenious ideas.

    “His skills in industrial relations, general management and organisational development were acquired and nurtured over the years in various roles,” the union said.

    A founding member of Nigerian Labour Movement Educators’ Forum, Afolabi was in charge of the education and training.

    Read also: NUPENG, PTD to Atiku: shelve legal action over poll

    Similarly, the union has promoted Comrade Christopher Akpede to Deputy General Secretary, Administration. He was principal assistant general secretary and head of the Port Harcourt zone of the union.

    Others, who were promoted to the position of deputy general secretary were Comrades Anthony Chukwu (finance/accounts) and Otite Precious Onohwohwo (Operations).

    They will assume duties on  Monday April 1.

  • June 12: I give glory to God – Kingibe

    Ambassador Babagana Kingibe, running mate of late Chief Moshood Abiola in the June 12, 1993 presidential election, is  full of praise to the  Federal Government for  declaring the day  Nigeria’s new Democracy Day.

    It is a great honour, he said yesterday in his first reaction to the Wednesday announcement.

    Kingibe, speaking to our reporter by phone from the Umrah in Saudi Arabia,also commended President Muhammadu Buhari for the decision to confer national awards on him,  Abiola,the  acclaimed winner of the election, and the  late Human Rights lawyer, Chief Gani Fawehinmi.

    But he declined further comment on the issues,saying he would rather concentrate on his religious rites for now.

    “I really appreciate this,” he said.

    He added: “I will love to express my feelings, but right now, I am in Makkah praying to make peace with my Maker.

    “There will be time enough to share worldly thoughts with friends.”

    Read Also: Heroes of June 12

    A key player in the struggle for the actualization, Chief Frank Kokori,described June 6,the day of the declaration as the happiest day of his life.

    Kokori, General Secretary of the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) during the struggle   told NAN that the recognition of the date would go a long way in deepening Nigerians’ faith in their country.

    His words: “This declaration is not an ordinary one. It is going to encourage Nigerians to contribute selflessly to the social, political and economic emancipation of their country.

    “No matter what anyone may say, President Muhammadu Buhari has, through this act, restored hope of Nigerians in Nigeria.”

    Kokori said that Buhari was the last person expected to recognize June 12.

    “Ordinarily, one would have expected such a national service to come from former President Olusegun Obasanjo, who himself went to prison, though for slightly a different reason.

    “But here we are and when all hopes were seemingly lost, someone came and did justice to the struggle.

    “I cannot claim personal glory for roles played during the struggle in spite of countless tribulations, but the honour goes to NUPENG, and the union will come out with official reaction to this landmark gesture,” he said.

  • Labour rejects cut in contract service period

    THE National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) and Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) have rejected the Service Level Agreement (SLA) between the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) and the Oil Producers Trade Section (OPTS), reducing contract service duration to six months.

    NUPENG and PENGASSAN lamented that the jobs which used to be carried out on permanent basis, have been converted to three-year service contract, and the NCDMB which should protect Nigerians against international oil companies (IOCs) has decided to sell Nigerian workers into slavery.

    In a statement, PENGASSAN President Comrade Francis Johnson and NUPENG’s General-Secretary Lumumba  Okugbawa said the unions  would resist the implementation of the agreement, calling for the abrogation of the agreement in the interest of industrial peace.

    “The Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) and the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), read with rude shock and total dismay, the purported Service Level Agreement (SLA) reached between the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) and the Oil Producers Trade Section (OPTS) and therefore, condemned it in its entirety and see the SLA as an unwholesome act,”the statement said, pointing out that it is ridiculous and unfortunate that “the NCDMB allowed desperate OPTS to arm-twist it into making mockery of the key thrust of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development (NOGICD) Act of 2010, vis-a-vis maximising participation of Nigerians in the Oil and Gas activities, as well as maximising the utilisation capacity of Nigerian resources, i.e. goods, services and assets.

    “The unions wonder what sort of maximisation of Nigeria’s participation in the Oil and Gas businesses will arise from the reduction of the contract circle to a mere six months duration,” they said,  saying in the statement, that the SLA, “will lead to further impoverishment of indigenous contractors and workers in the oil and gas industry. We are very sure that the prevailing indecent and precarious work condition in the Industry will further be accentuated by the reduction of contract circle to six  months duration.  A situation which this injurious Agreement signed on Wednesday, May 9, 2018 sought to champion, and which is nothing short of slave-labour in our opinion.”

    The unions said the agreement would not deepen the skill acquisition and expertise of Nigerians because of IOCs and indigenous oil companies that may want to exploit such agreement for their pecuniary advantage. They pointed out that any agreement that failed to address decent and sustainable jobs for Nigerians in the oil and gas industry would be resisted in whatever guise they appear.

    The unions said it was unfortunate that the views and opinions of unions in the industry were “not regarded worthy of consideration in the course of work of the NCDMB, yet the Board was specifically set up by law for the reason of maximising decent and sustainable participation of Nigerians in the oil and gas industry.”

    “With humility and without sounding disputatious or belligerent, NUPENG and PENGASSAN however call on all relevant stakeholders involved in this Agreement to immediately have a rethink of their decision in the overall interest of Nigeria,” the unions said.

  • Declare emergency on roads, NUPENG advises Fed Govt

    The National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) has urged the Federal Government to declare a state of emergency on roads. The measure, it said, would end carnage on them and ease road transportation.

    NUPENG President Comrade Williams Akporeha, made the call during the fourth Quadrennial Delegates Conference of the Petroleum Tanker Drivers’ Branch of NUPENG in Abuja.

    He said: “We know the present regime has been working hard to properly fix our highways, yet, a lot still have to be done. In the light of this, we earnestly call on the Federal Government to declare a state of emergency on Nigerian roads to attract urgent and attention, as no economy thrives without good roads and effective transportation system.”

    On the state of NUPENG, Akporeha said: “As you are also aware that the strength of any trade union organisation is in the numerical number of its membership, our recruitment and operational activities will be geared toward organising more members into the union.

    “Aside increasing the membership strength of the union, it is also in our plan of action to diversify and increase the number of sources of income for the union.

    “We plan to leverage our strength and opportunities in the downstream sector to achieve these, by providing key services in the industry, such as having mega filling stations across the country and building ultra-modern petroleum tanker parks in every zone of the union.

    “We have all these noble and lofty ideas and dreams; it is our firm belief, that with the unrelenting support of petroleum tanker drivers, they are achievable within the time lines we set.’’

    He continued: “We urge you to continue to support us as we promise to run a union that is accountable, transparent and have high regards for members and branches. The theme of this conference is very apt and topical because, as you already know, road is one of the major working conditions for every tanker driver.

    “An average petroleum tanker driver, who is actively on the wheel, spends most parts of his working life on the road traversing from one loading location to several discharging locations, all to get the economy of our nation going. His safety, health, prosperity, promotion, effectiveness and even life-expectancy depend almost on the state of road infrastructure,” Akporeha added.

  • The cost of non-passage of PIB, by NUPENG

    About $200 billion has been lost in the last eight years to the non-passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB).

    Former President of the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas workers (NUPENG) Comrade Achese Igwe, who disclosed this at the fourth quadrennial delegates’ conference of the union, in Port Harcourt, said the delay in passing the bill was a disincentive to the  economy as it has stifled direct foreign investment (DFI) into the country. According to him, it has also resulted in the folding of companies.

    Lauding the National Assembly for the passage of the governance component of the PIB, he called on President Muhammadu Buhari to fast-track the bill by assenting to it.

    “We believe that the president shall assent to the bill without delay, now that the National Assembly has harmonised it,”he said.

    He listed PIGB gains to include: restoring investors’ confidence and transparency in the oil and gas sector, employment generation and a virile business climate.

    He, however, faulted the removal of the clause on environmental and host communities’ concerns.

    The Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) President,  Comrade Ayuba Wabba, commended NUPENG for a successful congress, whose process he described as transparent.

    He urged the National Assembly to pass the National Minimum Wage Bill to enhance the living standard of workers, cautioning a plot to bring workers’ issue to the concurrent legislative list.

    According to him, such decision will breed crisis. He vowed to mobilise workers to resist any attempt to undermine workers’ prospect by transferring the issue to the concurrent list.

  • NNPC resumes loading of petroleum products nationwide

    NNPC resumes loading of petroleum products nationwide

    Mr Ndu Ughamadu, the Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), says the corporation has resumed loading of petroleum products in all its depots nationwide.

    Ughamadu made the disclosure in a statement on Saturday in Abuja.

    He said that the resumption of activities at the depots across the country followed the suspension of the strike by the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers,(NUPENG).

    He further said that the current petroleum products, stocked for supply by the corporation, would be sufficient for over 37 days.

    According to him, with the resumption in production of diesel and kerosene by the nation’s three refineries, Nigerians can be assured that the current seamless flow of petroleum products will be sustained.

    The Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs further assured Nigerians that NNPC would sustain the prevailing harmonious relations with industrial unions.

    He, therefore, called on Nigerians not to engage in panic buying, promising that there was adequate supply of petroleum products nationwide.

    Ughamadu also called on members of the public and stakeholders to refrain from any act capable of impeding the supply and distribution of petroleum products in the country.

  • NUPENG, PENGASSAN back subsidy removal

    NUPENG, PENGASSAN back subsidy removal

    The National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers  (NUPENG) and the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), have thrown their weight behind the decision of the Federal Government to stop the payment of petrol subsidy.

    Chairmen of NUPENG and PENGASSAN, Comrade Igwe Achese and Comrade Francis Olabode Johnson, respectively, addressing reporters after a joint National Executive Council meeting in Calabar Friday, said, “The deregulation of the sector is what we have been agitating for the past eight years or more. But each time we want to react, Nigerians want to live on the bedrock of lies. And that has been our problem. We have been living on the bedrock of lies. Successive governments come in, what we hear are full of lies. The oil and gas sector must have transparency and it is only when it is transparent that the nation’s economy will beginning to grown and job opportunities would be created.

     “For us our clear position is that the deregulation of the sector and opening of the market is a welcome development. Someone asked me about the price whether it is not too high and I say the price is a secondary issue. The most important thing is that government has come up with a firm stand that would stop payment of subsidy into the hands of few Nigerians. That is the first thing Nigerians must appreciate. It was tried by the past administration and I know what happened. It was politicized. Some members of the political lines took over these issues as if it was their bed right to continue milking the nation’s purse.

     “It is clear that we must deregulate and stop payment of subsidies into the hands of few Nigerians. We must not mortgage the nation’s economy into the hands of few Nigerians. We must open up the system and see how we can now talk about regulation.  The key fundamental issue in the issue of this price modulation is regulation and putting in place the necessary checks and balances that can control the price environment as it is.

     “But government should put in place the mechanism to start negotiation immediately on the minimum wage. It is very key to us. Because you cannot tell us that you are doing this and there are no palliative and one of the key palliative in the Nigerian environment is to renegotiate the minimum wage. Government must move in quickly and do this otherwise there would be a reaction somewhere.”

    In a communiqué issued at the end of the meeting, they commended President Muhammadu Buhari in his fight against corruption and insecurity in the country.

    It read in part, “The NEC in session had an extensive discussion on the recent price modulation. The NEC-in- session is of the view that price deregulation has its benefits in the immediate and near future.

    “However, NEC-in session strongly demands the federal government’s engagement with the stakeholders to work out a clear direction on how to reinvest the gains into the economy to cushion the effect of the price.

     “The NEC-in- session after an exhaustive deliberation of all these resultant effects ,resolve that , there is an urgent need for a paradigm shift and a new direction in the management of new investments and income in the oil and gas industry , but with critical proviso, among which include:

    -Government must ensure optional performance of the existing refineries and also put in place machinery for the construction of new refineries in the country to ensure adequate production for domestic consumption and possibly export.

    -Immediate commencement of negotiation of minimum wage for workers across all cadres.

    -Engagement of critical stakeholders for the federal government to provide a road map for with timelines of the infrastructures it intends to embark upon with the proceeds from this price modulation to cushion the harsh effects of the new direction.

    -Immediate reconstruction of the board of the PPPRA and PEF for the management of the new price regime.

    –The reconstitution and the re-strengthening of relevant agencies such as Standard Organisations of Nigeria (SON) , DPR and the Nigeria Customs and Excise Department to prevent the abuse of the new framework of PMS supply and distributions.