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Tag: PENGASSAN

  • Oil workers slam NCDMB over exclusion from confab

    The Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) has expressed its disappointment to the National Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) for excluding NUPENG and Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) from its just-concluded stakeholders’ conference.

    In a statement signed by its President, Igwe Achese, NUPENG said though it championed the battle to make the Local Content Bill a reality, it is being excluded from discussions that affect the sector.

    The union said the board’s deliberate act to exclude the two unions is to prevent them from opening up on the weaknesses and lapses noticeable in the implementation of the mandate of the board.

    Achese said: “It is sad to note that the ideals and purpose of setting up the board have not been realised.

    “It is shameful that the level of success expected of the board has not been met.The board has failed to call indigenous firms who are benefitting from the Local Content Act to stop enslaving their workers who are Nigerians as casuals.”

    According to him, the board has failed to monitor the indigenous firms that are owing their workers’salaries and allowances, adding that it has also failed to fish out indigenous firms operating in the sector fronting for foreign firms, making the Act itself a nullity.

    “These foreign firms invest in fabrication and other local content tools used in the oil and gas industry, using Nigerians as fronts.  This negates the principle behind the Local Content Act and these firms have many expatriate workers doing jobs that qualified Nigerians can do.

    “NUPENG, therefore, believes that the non-inclusion of NUPENGASSAN in the stakeholders’ summit is an attempt to gag their submissions on happenings in the affairs of the board as it is not yet equal to the task and compromising on issues based on regulation in the industry.

    ‘’NUPENG calls for another summit to include the union and PENGASSAN for the truth to be told in order to move the work of the board forward,” Achese said.

  • Rescind decision on refineries’ sale, PENGASSAN urges

    Rescind decision on refineries’ sale, PENGASSAN urges

    The Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) on yesterday urged the Federal Government to review its decision to sell the nation’s refineries.

    PENGASSAN’s National Public Relations Officer, Oluwaseyi Gambo, told the News Agency of Nigeria that government should fast-track the passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill rather than outright sale of the refineries.

    He said the Bill has provisions that would address and proffer solutions to the problems of the ailing refineries.

    The Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs Diezani Alison-Madueke, had on November 18, announced that the four ailing refineries would be privatised by the first quarter of 2014.

    Also the Head of Public Communication, Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), Chigbo Anichebe, had said that the privatisation of the refineries would be part of ongoing oil sector reform.

    However, Gambo said that the association was not averse to the sale of the refineries, provided it would be the best option.

    “But we are saying that it is not the best option and it is not the best solution. Nigerians will not get the best out of this; it will just enrich some individuals to the detriment of others.

    “That is why we are advising the Federal Government that it is not the best option for the country. But, if the Federal Government insists on privatising our refineries, it should be transparent and should be done through the Nigerian Stock Exchange where everybody will participate in the process.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • Oil workers plan to resist sale of refineries

    Oil workers plan to resist sale of refineries

    Oil workers under the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), and the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), have said they would resist the Federal Government’s plan to sell the nation’s refineries.

    The two trade unions said their opposition to the sale is against national interest and that the country would not benefit from the exercise.

    PENGASSAN President, Comrade Babatunde Ogun, claims the deal could benefit some government’s officials’ cronies.

    He said the reasons for the problems at the refineries were that the government underfunded the refineries and refused to carry out Turn-Around Maintenance (TAM), and supply crude to them.

    He explained that instead of opting for sale, the Federal Government should adopt a modified process tailored towards the Nigerian Liquified Natural Gas (NLNG), with the National Oil Company (NOC), as owners of the four refineries holding a substantial minority shares, while core investors/local participation hold the working majority with the staff, trade unions, and the host communities holding minority shares.

    He advised that the government to deal with the problem of pipelines vandalism that hamper the supply of crude oil to the refineries as well as carry out TAM and see if the refineries would not work.

    Ogun said: “The proposed sale of the refineries is against the overall national interest, but in the interest of a few, who are lurking around the corridors of power to milk the country dry. How can a country be selling all its national assets in the name of privatisation? For whose benefit are such sales?

    “If you recall, the late President Umaru Yar’Adua reversed the privatisation of the refineries by former President Olusegun Obasanjo, with a promise to carry out Turn-Around Maintenance (TAM), on them to ensure that they were sold not as scrap. On assumption to office, President Goodluck Jonathan also promised to carry out TAM on the refineries.

    “Even the controversial Kalu Idika Kalu-led National Refineries Special Task Force also had TAM or rehabilitation of the refineries to make them work in a safe and reliable manner as part of its recommendations. As we are talking now, nothing has been significantly done.

    “Why is the government proposing the sale of these national edifices without doing the needful to ensure that the refineries work at their optimal capacity? Nigerians and the public deserve to know more on the desperate reasons for the spate and row of proposed privatisation, even when the selfish motives of these proposed national assets sales can spell doom for the country.”

    He also said the refineries should be entities independent of either the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) or the proposed NOC as in the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), while the board of management of each refining company should be fully responsible for its success and failure.

    Ogun said those planning to sell the refineries and their cronies planning to buy them should emulate Alhaji Aliko Dangote and establish their own refineries instead of waiting to corner the nation’s common investment.

    He also said instead of privatising the refineries, the government should grant effective incentives to allow for the development of private refineries alongside the existing ones, adding that a framework should be articulated that will make available, required crude for effective functioning of local refineries.

    “There is need to incentivize and,or compel IOCs to refine an agreed percentage of crude oil in the country. A suggestion is to tie upstream licensing to downstream investment and private ownerships of jetties should be encouraged.”

    “As the privatisation trend continues, the Nigerian public will need to know from the process drivers, the number of jobs and investment that have been created as against the reality that some cronies are now being recruited as technical partners to front for the high and mighty as was the case with Eleme Petrochemicals Company Limited, which the government sold to Indorama for $225 million, a mega plant that is the second largest in Africa, which at the time of its sale was worth about $2.5 billion as fair market value.”

    He continued: “Also at the time of the sale, the company was fully stocked and the materials needed for its TAM were being bought by the government. It only required working capital that was persistently blocked by bureaucratic bottleneck and undue government interference that delayed its efficiency.”

    “Petroleum Minister Mrs Diezani Alison-Madueke  said two weeks ago that the nation’s four refineries would be put up for sale by the first quarter of next year.

    “We would like to see major infrastructural entities, such as refineries moving out of government’s hands into the private sector. Government does not want to be in the business of running major infrastructure entities and we haven’t done a very good job at it over all these years.”

    “We are right now undergoing a major turnaround maintenance programme” of the refineries, Mrs Alison-Madueke said.

  • Oil workers vow to resist sale of refineries

    Oil workers vow to resist sale of refineries


    * Demand adoption of NLNG model

    Oil Workers under the aegis of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) and the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) has vowed to resist plans by the Government to sell the nations refineries without considering available options and rational rule for such lucrative business deal.

    The oil workers alleged that the government advertently underfunded the refineries and deliberately refused to carry out Turn-Around Maintenance (TAM) and supply crude to the refineries so as to have reasons for selling it to their cronies.

    In a statement made available to the Nation, the union said instead of opting for the outright sale of the refineries, the government should adopt a modified model tailored towards the Nigerian Liquified Natural Gas (NLNG) Model with the National Oil Company (NOC) as owners of the four refineries holding a substantial minority share, while core investors/local participation hold the working majority with the staff, trade unions, and the host communities hold minority shares.

    Speaking against the backdrop of the plan by the Federal Government to privatise the four refineries by 2014, the PENGASSAN President, Comrade Babatunde Ogun, said that the workers will resist the privatisation of the four state-owned refineries because it is against the national interest.

    He alleged that government should deal with the problem of vandalisation of pipelines that hamper supply crude oil to the refineries as well as carry out TAM and see whether the refineries will work or not.”

    He noted that the issue of the privatisation of the refineries has been on the front burner since President Olusegun Obasanjo regime, when the government through the Bureau for Public Enterprises hastily sold the refineries, adding that this step was reversed by the late President Umar Yar’Adua.

    Comrade Ogun said, “The proposed sale of the refineries is against the overall national interest and in the interest of the few, who are lurking around the corridor of power to milk the country dry. How can a country be selling all its national assets all in the name of privatisation? For whose benefit are such sales?

    “If you recall, Late President Yar’Adua reversed the privatisation of the refineries done by former President Obasanjo, with a promised to carry out Turn-Around Maintenance (TAM) on them to ensure that they are sold not as scrap. On assumption to office, President Goodluck Jonathan also promised to carry out TAM on the refineries.

    “Even the controversial Kalu Idika Kalu led National Refineries Special Task Force also has TAM or rehabilitation of the refineries to make the refineries work in a safe and reliable manner as part of its recommendations.  As we are talking now, nothing has been significantly done.

    “Why is the government proposing sales of these national edifices without doing the needful to ensure that the refineries work at their optimal capacity? Nigerians and the general public deserve to know more on the desperate reasons for the spate and row of proposed privatisation, even when the selfish motives of these proposed national assets sales can spell doom for the country.”

    He said that the government can also consider Part 1 Section 3 of a Senate Bill 176, which try to ensure 50 per cent refining capacity in the country, and states that, “Nigerian personnel shall constitute a minimum of (75 percent) seventy five percent of the investing company in accordance with this law.”

    He also said the refineries should be stand-alone entities independent of either the current Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) or the proposed NOC as in the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), while the board of management of each refining company should be fully responsible for its success and failure.

    Comrade Ogun said that planning to sell the refineries and their cronies planning to buy them should emulate Alhaji Aliko Dangote and establish their own refineries instead of waiting to corner the nation’s common investment interest for their own selfish interest.

    He also stated that instead of privatising the refineries, government should grant effective incentives to allow for the development of private refineries alongside the existing ones, adding that a framework should be articulated that will make available required crude for effective functioning of local refineries.

    “There is need to incentivise and/or compel IOCs to refine an agreed percentage of crude oil in the country. A suggestion is to tie upstream licensing to downstream investment and private ownerships of jetties should be encouraged,” he said.

    He stated that “As the privatisation trend continues, the Nigeria public will need to know from the process drivers the number of jobs and investment that have been created as against the reality that some cronies are now being recruited as technical partners to front for the high and mighty as was the case with Eleme Petrochemicals Company Limited which the Government sold to Indorama for $225million for an mega plant that is the second largest in Africa which at the time of its sale worth about $2.5 billion as fair market value. Also at the time of the sale, the company was fully stocked feeds, and the materials needed for its TAM were being bought by the government. It only required working capital that was persistently caused by bureaucratic bottleneck and undue government interference that delayed its efficiency.

    “Also, the downstream oil and gas sector companies where Government has substantial ownership equity like Unipetrol, Africa Petroleum and National Oil were doing well with over 6000 Nigerian employees before their privatisation.

    These companies are now going into oblivion with less than 1200 workers made up over 85 per cent casual employees and 15 per cent regular staff despite guarantees of better management by the core investors. The sad story with the privatisation of Air Nigeria and NICON is well known to the Nigerian public.”

  • PENGASSAN hails PPPRA’s ongoing reforms

    The Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) has commended the management of the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) for the ongoing reforms in the downstream sector.

    The Chairman of the PPPRA Branch of the association, Mr. Lazi Akhore, and the Secretary, Mr Ghide Mohammed, said on Monday that PPPRA’s management deserved a pat on the back for sanitising the sector.

    The officers who spoke in a statement issued in Abuja, expressed their support for the Executive Secretary of the PPPRA, Mr. Reginald Stanley, for taking bold steps in saving over N409 billion in the subsidy scheme last year.

    The union said the Federal Government should be commended for taking measures resulting in an unprecedented clean-up of the downstream, following the appointment of Stanley in November, 2011.

    “It is worth noting that the PPPRA under Mr. Reginald Stanley has recorded significant achievements in the operations of the subsidy scheme, resulting to the saving of over N409 billion in 2012 alone.

    “Stanley has also facilitated the drastic reduction of daily fuel consumption in line with actual national demands,” the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) quoted the body as saying in the statement.

     

     

  • PENGASSAN condemns ‘fraud’ allegation against PPPRA

    PENGASSAN condemns ‘fraud’ allegation against PPPRA

    The Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency ( PPPRA) branch has condemned what it called allegation of fraud against the agency by one Ledisi Dagogo-Jack.

    In a statement by its Chairman, Comrade Stephen Lazi Akhere and Secretary, Comrade Ghide Muhammad, the group said that the management of PPPRA is focused and sticks to standard, therefore, no mischief will distract it.

    The statement said: “It was obvious Ledisi Dagogo-Jack and his traducers are out to smear the hard earned image of the agency and its leadership. The union, therefore, wishes to encourage the Executive Secretary, Mr. Reginald Stanley to remain focused with his transformation process, which has helped sanitise the petroleum downstream sector since the events of 2011 in the administration of the Petroleum Support Fund (PSF).

    “It is worth noting that the PPPRA under Stanley has recorded significant achievements in the operation of the subsidy scheme which resulted in saving the nation over N409 billion last year alone, drastic reduction on daily fuel consumption in line with actual national demands, the introduction of certified product inspectors, under the 3-3-2 system and eventually 2-2-1 system which among other things, thinned the possibility of collusion in product discharge and distribution.

    “Given our most recent experience, particularly the excitement that greeted the various probe and investigative panels in the wake of the 2011 fuel subsidy brouhaha, the Union is of the opinion, that the introduction of the Independent Inspection System was conceived in the best interest of the petroleum downstream sector.”

  • PENGASSAN: Local content law not working

    PENGASSAN: Local content law not working

    The Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) has said the local content law signed by President Goodluck Jonathan to give indigenous oil and gas companies’ sense of belonging in the sector has not had meaningful impact on the oil and gas sector.

    Its National Executive Committee member, Mr Foluso Oginni, who spoke to reporters, said the country’s contracts in the oil and gas sector are dominated by the international oil companies leaving the crumbs for the indigenous ones.

    According to him, the international oil companies are violating their expatriate quota, giving them the opportunity to bring in various services, which can be taken care of by Nigerians.

    Oginni recalled the situations where some international oil companies brought in artisans from abroad, adding the development is a reflection that these companies have little or no regard for the content laws.

    He noted that the international oil companies flout the local content laws in connivance with corrupt immigration officials, which assisted them to bring in all manner of expatriates’ into the country.

    Oginni, while giving his support to the ongoing House of Representatives probe of major oil and gas companies for flouting the nation’s local content law, said the development would go a long way in curbing the companies’ excesses.

    He implored the lawmakers to also beam their searchlight on the activities of corrupt immigration officials, who assist the oil companies to make mess of the nation’s content law, explaining that doing so would enable the Federal Government and policy makers re-evaluate the import of the law with a view to enabling to achieve its set objectives.

    On the increasing crude oil theft in the country, he said the Federal Government has not demonstrated the required seriousness to nip the practice in the bud, wondering why the Federal Government with its security apparatus, continually raised the alarm over the helpless situation of the theft in the country.

  • PENGASSAN, ConocoPhillips on war path over severance pay

    The Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) has drawn the battle line between it and the management of ConocoPhillips over the oil firms planned divestment from the country.

    The workers want all labour issues, especially payment of severance package and sales bonus, setttled before they will accede to the outright sale of the oil firm’s assets in the country.

    ConocoPhillips, one of the major players in the upstream sector, is planning to divest from the country.

    The workers added that the company should be ready to settle all liabilities to Nigerians working in the firm.

    The workers said they were ready to use all legal means to ensure that ConocoPhillips respects the extant labour laws and other international conventions regarding severance of employees.

    In a statement, its National Public Relations Officer, Comrade Seyi Gambo, said the workers would not hesitate to shut the oil sector if their requests were not addressed.

    According to Gambo, the union is aware that ConocoPhillips would soon approach the Minister of Petroleum Resources and the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to seek approval for the sale of the oil blocks to some oil companies, adding that the process for outright sale of its operations in the country too is expected to be completed before the year runs out.

    The union alleged that all expatriate workers of the oil major have been paid their entitlements and redeployed to other countries where the firm operates while neglecting its indigenous workers.

    The union stated: “The Minister of Petroleum Resources and the Group Managing Director of the NNPC should not grant the approval unless the management of ConocoPhillips engages PENGASSAN on the severance of its members before concluding the sale so as not to plunge the buyers into industrial crisis.

    “We are not saying that ConocoPhillips cannot sell their properties or investments in Nigeria, all we are saying is that the company should engage PENGASSAN so as to discuss the severance package and sales bonus of our members in that company.

    The workers lamented that all the efforts they had made to ensure a peaceful resolution of the matter have been rebuffed.

    “We have made several efforts to ensure that the management of ConocoPhillips come to table for discussion, but they arefused to engage the union. Even the company refused to honour the invitation of the Ministry of Petroleum Resources and the Ministry of Labour and Productivity. ConocoPhillips also bluntly refused to yield to the call of the 13-Man Committee set up by the Federal Government to look into various industrial issues affecting the oil and gas industry,” the workers alleged.

    The union alleged that they have letters to the Presidency, Federal Ministers of Petroleum Resources and its Labour and Productivity counterpart, GMD of NNPC, Director, Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), the Senate President, Speaker of the House of Representatives and other stakeholders on the intention of the firm to short change its members in the outright sale of its oil blocks in the country.

  • PENGASSAN petitions Jonathan over oil workers’ abduction

    The Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria has urged President Goodluck Jonathan to address the kidnapping of oil workers in the Niger Delta region with a view to guaranteeing safety of lives and property of its members.

    This was contained in a statement issued by PENGASSAN in Lagos and signed by its Public Relations Officer (PRO), Seyi Gambo.

    Gambo, who said the situation is worrisome also, lamented what he described as, “seemingly uncontainable oil theft, illegal bunkering and abysmal petroleum refining which has put the oil and gas revenue prospects on the alarming brink with attendant deficit impact on the committed expenditure and capital projects across the various levels of government.”

    He called on the president to stem this ugly incident, saying the vulnerable business environment in the oil and gas industry is capable of deterring any serious investor from doing business.

    He said, “Nothing could be more pleasing than the news that government has been able to stem the nefarious acts of kidnapping and killing of innocent oil workers in the course of doing their lawful duty. The reappearance of such traumatic and daring criminal acts would worsen the preconceived Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), induced slow investment climate and divestment propensity in the Sector.”

    Gambo pointed at the recent event where two contractors were taken from the creeks including the wife of an SPDC staff from her poultry farm, while another staff member was abducted and subsequently assassinated while on a private business.

    “Workers’ fundamental rights to life, right to mobility and the right to work without fear of victimization/molestation is again being challenged. Opinion are that the Federal Government and states in the Niger Delta have relaxed their intelligence, security and law enforcement responsibility that had given room to renewed hostage taking for ransom.

    With the resurging threats to the oil and gas industry, the International Oil Companies (IOCs) have issued security alert and warnings to their employees..

    “As labour union, we will equally not shy away from our moral and constitutional role to direct our members to take cover accordingly. This may possibly lead to the withdrawal of services until the government and the relevant Ministries, Departments and Agencies can ensure appropriate safety and security of lives as required,” the PENGASSAN spokesman warned.

    He insisted that the association would not hesitate to withdraw it staff from duty if their safety cannot be guaranteed, saying “the association may in the above regard have no other option than to yield to the intense pressure from our members, whose lives are at risk, to withdraw their services from the industry if the security and safety of lives and that of their families could no longer be guaranteed by the government.”

     

     

     

     

  • PENGASSAN berates FG over ASUU strike

    The Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) has berated the federal government over the ongoing strike by the Academic Staff Union of University (ASUU) which has crippled academic activities in the nation’s tertiary institutions.

    In a statement issued yesterday in Lagos, PENGASSAN Public Relations Officer (PRO) says the body, “views with deep concern and discontent the ongoing and indeed a recurring strike in our nation’s ivory towers by the Academic Staff Unions of our Universities (ASUU) which has entered its 9th week without any sign of being resolved soon as parties in the crisis continue to trade blame and spoil for more actions on the matter.”

    Comrade Gambo decries the degenerating government habit of reneging on agreements and Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) freely entered into with the union and therefore urged “government to immediately refocus the nation’s budget and expenditures to priorities areas which education stands out by using this strike events to declare a State of Emergency in the Education Sector with a view to finally securing it for better rewarding future of our youths.”

    The PENGASSAN PRO who bemoans the fact that Nigerian youths are at the receiving end of the crisis said, “more worrisome is for the majority of the talented youths whose sponsors cannot afford a private or foreign school, and have rested all hope in the public schools now imagine the kind of future generation they are bound to build as they are turned out half-baked as a result of irregular and sandwiched session and curriculum.”

    He appealed to Gabriel Suswam led Committee to sheath their sword by embracing dialogue as a means of finding a lasting solution to the recurring problem of under -funding of the nation’s education, adding “This is so as education remains a major plank for sustainable development and veritable means of rediscovering the dream of the founding fathers of the nation.”

    Gambo lamented the effect of incessant strikes on the nation’s university education system, which he explained has made the country’s best University today to rank only amongst the 6,000 in the world, stressing “while most of our graduates are simply ‘unemployable’, the nation’s scarce resources are routinely frittered away through unabated sleaze and in the face of endemic corruption at all levels of governance.”