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Tag: PENGASSAN

  • PENGASSAN blames kerosene scarcity on refineries

    The Petroleum and Natural Gas Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) has blamed the scarcity of kerosene on the poor state of refineries.

    Its General Secretary, Bayo Olomoshule, said the refineries inability to function optimally was responsible for the products.

    He told The Nation that the conflict between the government and importers over subsidy, and alleged substitution of kerosene for aviation fuel, were also responsible for the scarcity, arguing that if you have a product that serves multiple uses, it could experience such fluctuation.

    Until these areas are addressed kerosene shortage may not be over, he said, adding that there is need to ensure and encourage more use of cooking gas as a substitute for kerosene.

    He said the association has reached out to the government including the ministry of petroleum resources, the petroleum product pricing regulatory agency (PPPRA), the NNPC who according to him are also looking for collaborators/partnership to ensure that the product is made available to Nigerians.

    Meanwhile, the secretary has reemphasized the need for speedy passage of the petroleum industry bill which he said would encourage more people to participate in the gas business adding until that is done we may not really be able to overcome the challenges of gas utilization in the country.

    On oil theft and bunkering, the general secretary said the union would ensure collective action with government, the oil majors and security agencies to make sure the country overcomes the challenges of the menace of oil theft.

  • 30,000 lose jobs to oil theft

    30,000 lose jobs to oil theft

    About 30,000 workers have lost their jobs to oil theft in the past two years, the Petroluem and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), has said.

    Speaking during a visit to The Nation, its spokesman, Seyi Gambo, said the affected workers are from different  segments of the industry.

    He said the decision of the International Oil Companies (IOCs) to divest their stakes in the industry, among other problems,  has resulted in the loss of about 30, 000 jobs.

    Gambo said there has been confliciting reports on the issue of oil theft since 2011 when it broke out.

    “For years now we have been having problems with oil theft. In 2009, the United  Nations said that Nigeria was losing about 150,000barrels per day to illegal bunkering. It was last year that the Finance Minister said it’s about 400,000 bpd that we were losing, so that is the problem.

    “So you understand that this is a very big problem This is because Shell, Agip, Total are telling Nigerians that the process isn’t as safe as it was before, and the way we operate is not the way other unions operate because of the level of our education.”

    He said the union is doing a lot of backdoor negotations to prevent a situation whereby more people would be thrown into the labour market.

    He said the decision to award contracts to ex-militants to safeguard the waterways has not helped matter as oil theft, pipeline vandalisation among other activities continues.

  • Oil workers protest exclusion from PIB public hearing

    Members of Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) and National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) have protested their exclusion from the National Assembly’s public hearing on the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB).

    They alleged that critical stakeholders in the oil and gas industry were denied the opportunity of making their presentations at the hearing.

    The action of the National Assembly Joint Committee was deliberate and not in the interest of the nation. They said the committee ended the hearing, without allowing the invited stakeholders to make their presentations.

    In a position paper sent to The Nation, the PENGASSAN’s President, Mr Babatunde Ogun, said 14 out of the 54 memoranda given to the National Assembly was presented during the hearing.

    Ogun listed the memoranda to include expunging the provision granting the President powers to use his discretion to award petroleum licences and leases from PIB; ensuring that the bill provides transparency on the award of contracts and licensces, and other accompanying processes.

    Others are ensuring that the bill builds on the efforts of National Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) by erasing the ’black hole’ perception of the oil and gas industry; mandatory publication of all licences, tenders, and contracts; voiding confidentiality clauses for oil revenue and payment information; publication of statistical figures of oil operations that include but not limited to production export and import on quarterly basis; annual reports and audits of operations and commercial and associated institutions created by the PIB, National Petroleum Assets Management Corporation/ Company.

    Ogun stressed the need for critical examination of proposed changes in the fiscal regime to ensure that Nigeria does not discourage investments in oil and gas.

    He said: “It is our considered view that the PIB should allow for the optimisation of returns to Nigeria from its oil and gas resources without stifling investments and growth of the industry. The government will, therefore, have to strike a balance between taking a significantly higher stake from industry operations and ensuring the sustainable growth of the industry. To this end, we suggest that the National Assembly should arrange a meeting between the government represented by the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and the Oil Producers Trade Section (OPTS) to reconcile the disagreements on the fiscal regimes.”

    The unions called for the curtailing of the power of the Minister under the PIB to avoid the bureaucracy that characterises the management of the sector; fixing the tenure of the board, chief executive officer and other management staff of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and National Oil Company (NOC) to prevent undue interference of the board and ensuring that workers meet the targets set for them.

    Ogun said the Petroleum Host CommunityFund(PHCF) should cover communities hosting oil and gas resources and assets, including downstream infrastructure, adding that independent and effective regulators should be provided to ensure the bill’s success.

    “The Joint Venture(JV) has, however, been bedevilled by inadequate funding, as the government has not being able to meet its cash call obligations. The Petroleum Minister only recently pointed out that inadequate JV funding was negatively impacting on exploration and with it, reserves addition. The proposal under the PIB for the JV assets to be under a government-owned corporation does not seem to solve this cash call problem even with the proposed seed capital. There is no doubt that government’s finances are constrained, what will therefore, be more practical is for government to divest some of its holdings in the NPAMC while members of the public hold the rest. This way, the JV will be better funded,” he added.

    He said the oil firms are putting 10 per cent of their profits into the fund, adding that they cannot draw from it when their facilities are vandalised.

    According to him, regulatory functions are placed under the Ministry of Petroleum in line with the provisions of the PIB. He said the call for the establishment of the Upstream Petroleum Inspectorate (UPI) and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Agency (DPRA) to regulate the sector is in order, adding that this is the only way to prevent abuse of power.

     

  • SURE – P is an aberration – PENGASSAN

    SURE – P is an aberration – PENGASSAN

    Seyi Gambo is the Public Relations Officer of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN).

    He spoke with our correspondents on several issues in the oil and gas sector. Excerpts….

     

    Recently PENGASSAN gave a two- week ultimatum to the government over rising cases of oil theft, what had been the government’s response and why did you give that ultimatum?

    For years now we have been having problem with the oil theft. In 2009 the United Nations said that Nigeria was losing about 150,000 barrels per day to illegal bunkering. And it was last year that the Finance minister said it’s about 400,000 bpd that we were losing so that is the problem. This is a country where 95 per cent of our exports come from the oil sector and 80 per cent of our revenue is from this same source. So you understand that this is a very big problem and as it is now, we are losing about 30,000 of our members. This is because Shell, Agip, Total had started divestment from Nigeria .

    So we do a lot of backdoor negotiations and informal meetings. But we noticed we have to change gear now because everything we thought will happen in the future is meeting us now and then if you take 20,000 oil workers and throw them into the labour market, you know there would be problems.

    This is because as I’m seating here I’m responsible for the upkeep and welfare of about 25 of my immediate family members not to talk of friends. So these are the issues and we need to let Nigerians know and we can’t do it alone we need the people, the masses, behind us so that we can all together ask government to do what they are meant to do, which is to create an enabling environment for business to grow in the country.

    People felt that there was a sort of acrimony between NUPENG AND PENGASSAN. What do you know about that?

     There has never been any acrimony between us that I know of.

    Our space of working is different, they are junior staffs and we are senior staffs. Therefore our ways of engagement are different. At some points they might think we should go out and we might think diplomacy would be better. Two people can’t see things the same way. It’s not really a deep seated acrimony, but it’s just that we are coming from different backgrounds of engagement.

    Recently the Federal Government just awarded contract to ex-militants to safeguard the Niger Delta waterways. Measuring it with the current happenings now, do you think they been able to live up to expectations?

    They have not been able to meet up to expectations and that’s why we are where we are now. I don’t know the philosophy behind government giving them award for security of the waterways when we have the navy there, when you would expect that the navy would be enhanced to perform that role. Brazil that we started together, they have submarines there’s nothing you cannot train anybody to use now, it’s an inverted logic. If they had been doing what they are meant to do, we won’t have this problem now. Shell could do about three million barrels per day, yet we are managing to do about 1.2million barrels per day. Now they are moving between 200,000 and 300,000 bpd and it has to with their bottom-line. But our guys here don’t have anything to do but to repair pipelines and well heads.

    What do you think the government should do to safeguard this pipeline vandalization?

    If the government is sincere they won’t have this problem. I have always told people it won’t take them a month to address this problem if those in authority are willing to do it. But the problem would still persist because there are markets for these stolen products. How do you address it? You make sure you block the market and give it the kind of treatment Sierra-Leone gave the blood diamond.

    Because our oil has a signature, our oil is not a common oil, it’s not a common crude, it’s something that can be trailed it leaves trails, it’s not something you can go somewhere and refine it. So if those in government are serious and they are willing to do it they can do it. It’s something that is affecting the whole world they should be able to talk to the necessary international organs and have MOU with governments, this is because about 80 per cent of the stolen crude oil are taken abroad.

    What are your views on the controversial issue of casualization in the oil and gas sector of the Nigerian economy?

    One thing is that there are several problems in the oil and gas sector. The fact of the matter is that there’s massive unemployment in the land and it’s something we should have done years ago. But because of the environment this had become an herculean task. For instance if you meet the managing director of a firm you say okay I’m ready to regularize but I can only take 20 per cent and 80 per cent has gone, what do you do? That’s the question. Nobody is happy about it, but things are so bad that now anything is better than nothing.

    Another thing is that do you ensure that in the process of laying off the 80%, do you ensure that their severance packages are well taken care of because we have heard of several protests where people appeared on television and to said they have been sacked without entitlements. How do you people come in to ensure that doesn’t happen?

    Basically one of the problems we faced is that most of the casual workers came into the jobs with their lowest academic qualifications just for them to work. As you all know there is a limit to which a school certificate holder would work. So when they get there, they would now bring out their university certificate and those people would now say no. So there are so many issues that you know, you cannot really fight for… But if you bring anything to the union as a body, we’d fight it to the last because this is our country and there are laid out rules and we cannot because they are our members we now change the rules. But if what they bring before we know that they are being short changed in any way, you can bet that…that… that’s what we are there for.

    How have you been able to harmonize the relationship between the major marketers, the independent marketers, the tank farm owners and the jetty operators?

    You know harmonizing and regulating is not our brief. It’s actually out of our league. You see that role is for the ministry and the government to see, to get them all to work as a unit for the benefit of the country. That is really out of our own league. Our major concern is the corporate entity call Nigeria. That is to say this oil we should be able to use it for the good of masses. That even if you are not working in the industry, you will feel the positive impact of these resources in your life. I mean, if we have good rail system, we won’t be having this situation where we have trucks on the roads. It would reduce the number of accidents on the roads. You know these accidents are things that could have been avoided, if the refineries are working. All the refineries are in a very comatose state, they are always telling us that they’ve done turn around by maintenance.

    Why do you think they are not working?

    They are not working because people don’t want them to work. I mean it’s just like NITEL andjust like the Nigerian Railway. When I was checking my records I noticed these things started during Abacha’s time. So when there is a vacuum, people now come in. some people are now making money, I mean, it’s now an industry for some people to make money. They are making billions of money by the refineries not working. When you are importing, you know the kind of transactions that go on there, so it’s very hard. That’s why the minister somewhere sometime when she travelled abroad said that there’s a cabal in the industry; but it also shows that we are having people that are either clueless or they are careless. How can a minister in an industry say that there is a cabal and you cannot arrest it? You know it’s something that is very shameful. if it’s in another clan, that person would have resigned that day. When you say that there is a cabal and you cannot do anything about it. But if it is to start chasing small small thieves on the road you’d see our security agents, they would be up and doing.

    Can you to measure the performance of the  SURE-P initiative. What’s the position of your association considering what they have done until now, has it lived up to expectations?

    Well I would say personally that if we have a working government. I mean a government that lives up to his responsibility we’ll not have things like SURE-P. In other words SURE-P is an aberration.

    Is there a way forward in all these?

    There’s a way forward, that’s what we are saying, that look, the future of Nigeria lies in our hands. We have to stand up and let our voices be heard. And when there’s a need for action, we must be counted; we must come out and be counted. And now we’re… we are having symbiotic relationship with other organizations outside the union, the NGO and the civil society groups because we’re all Nigerians.

    There’s nothing that happens in one sector that does not affect all of us. Look at the problem in the health sector, you see Nigerians, the ones that can afford it, they are going to India. For schooling our people are now heading to Ghana and Togo. These are things that you can never imagine would happen in Nigeria. We are a major oil producing nation and not only oil we have other natural endowments. We also have very brilliant people here, and, but look at the mess we have found ourselves in.

    And your strike, is it likely to happen?

    As it is now, one of the problems we’ve been having, as I said earlier on is the modus operandi of each union, each body is different. We believe in a lot of engagements, so that by the time we cry out people would see that these people really have a case. And when your government tells you that they are going to do something and as a citizen, an average citizen, you should trust them. But now that trust… that credit is almost done with and that’s why we are out coming now.

    We have myriads of problems. There are some that can be done immediately, there are some that be done in months, you know, but even the ones that can be done in months or in years. But you’d know that they’ve started. But what we are saying is if they are not taking concrete efforts to address these issues, I mean, anything can happen… anything can happen.

    Talking about the way forward, PIB is one of them, so what’s you take on the subject?

    Yes, we have made our presentations on the PIB. And this week we are making another presentation to the Senate. And our take on the issue is that we are nationalistic, we are neither the IOC’s nor the marketers.

    Which one is IOC?

    What we are looking for is what would make Nigeria get the maximum benefits for these resources that God has blessed us with. Looking at the points that we raised about the power that they are giving to the minister of petroleum; we asked them to look at the best model in the world, anywhere in the world and give it to us. Let’s even imagine that this minister means well, you’ll have one minister that would be mischievous and misuse these thing, so it’s not… it’s not done. You know, we’ve have told them our decision, that government should hands off many of these things ,like the refinery if you need major repairs you have to go to Abuja. I mean there should be money for the man there to be able to do it.

    What do you think the federal government should do concerning revenue generated from exportation of oil since major buyer America has found an alternative?

    Well as we have said before know there is a disconnect between the revenue generated and what they do with the money. We expect that from the revenue generated from the oil and gas, we should see more things on the ground but there is nothing on ground to show for our oil exporting activities. There is power, there is road, there is education, there are so many things that you can do with this revenue and go to Saudi Arabia and you now wonder you know..That’s why I always laugh when people say that we are more religious than the pope. Go to Saudi Arabia look at how they take care of their citizens, look at Libya before the fall of Gaddafi, all the people were enjoying, we have no business being poor. Anytime I am on the streets and I see these hawking adults, children of school age and young teenagers, I feel bad, it’s painful because you know they have no business being on the streets. If we have responsible leaders. You know, even a blind man can tell what they should do with this money. You know but they are keeping it in foreign accounts, they are not even accounting for it and there is no accountability for the revenues. Do you know as it is now the NNPC don’t even know how much fuel the IOC pump in a day.

    Let me just talk about your purposed strike, there is this talk that each time you call for a strike, your executive, your top people they go behind to connive with government and short-change Nigerians how true is that?

    I know that you are referring to the last subsidy strike and let me tell you this about PENGASSAN. From all the people I know in PENGASSAN – from my president to all the executives, they are patriots and they will not take blood money. Anybody that takes that kind of money collects blood money and I can tell you that my president will not do that. All the people that took the money or those that were alleged to have collected it have not come out to say that they did not take it. Go and do your research you will see what I mean.

     

     

     

  • PENGASSAN threatens strike over crisis in Rivers legislature

    PENGASSAN threatens strike over crisis in Rivers legislature

    The Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) has threatened to suspend operations over the crisis rocking the Rivers State House of Assembly.

    PENGASSAN’s President Mr Babatunde Ogun, in a statement issued in Lagos yesterday,warned that if politicians cannot conduct themselves in a manner expected of them, the union would not hesitate to withdraw the services of oil workers to ensure their safety.

    He said: “The state of fear that pervades Rivers is a threat to the lives and safety of oil and gas workers and the entire industry.”

    It said the crisis was an indication that the government may not be able to guarantee security and protect the lives and property of the people.

    It condemned the violence in the assembly on Tuesday, describing it as ‘a slap on Nigeria’s democracy and the Constitution.’

    The statement said the crisis could lead to a breakdown of law and order that could affect not only the state, but other parts of the country if not nipped in the bud.

    The violence, it said, showed that some politicians lacked respect for the Constitution and elementary democratic decorum.

    “That is why we would not risk the lives of our members and may have to withdraw them until the situation is under control”, he said.

    The statement said it was regrettable to note that those trying to subvert democracy never fought for it.

    “Several people, especially labour leaders, died for our democracy to be achieved. Some of us were incarcerated during the struggle to attain this democracy.”

    The statement urged all those involved in the crisis to take cognisance of its root causes and pursue peace by reconciling their differences.

    A former member of the assembly, Mr. Chidi Amadi, yesterday described as hasty, the House of Representatives resolution on the matter.

    The House of Representatives passed a resolution on Wednesday, urging the National Assembly to allow it take over the legislative functions of the Rivers assembly immediately.

    Amadi, who represented Obio/Akpor constituency II on the platform of the defunct Social Democratic Party (SDP) in Rivers from 1991 to 1993, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Port Harcourt that the House of Representatives should have allowed a committee it set up to investigate the crisis first.

    He said the lower chamber of the National Assembly should have monitored events in the Rivers assembly before passing the resolution.

    ”The events at the National Assembly, taking a cue from the first point of departure, the lower house, the House of Representatives, I want to say that the resolution of the House of Representatives was quite disappointing.

    “Yes, the lower house of the National Assembly, the House of Representatives, has every right to review the happenings in the Rivers State legislature.

    “But, not to say that, at the first attempt to look into this issue, a resolution was reached to take over the affairs of the assembly.

    “From all that happened, we were aware, we heard on the news – the former speaker of the assembly, Tonye Harry even affirmed that no one was removed and then asked the media to come the following morning that the assembly was going to sit.

    “From other members of the assembly, we also heard that the business of the day, which was to pass the motion from the executive arm as per the budget modification was taken,“

    Amadi said other members of the assembly assured that the business of the state legislative arm would go on.

    He hailed the Senate for exercising restraint on the matter and advised the legislators in the state to calm down and not ignore the issue of governance.

  • PENGASSAN warns politicians against heating the polity

    PENGASSAN warns politicians against heating the polity

    …. Condemns recent killings of police officers

    Oil workers under the auspices of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) have warned politicians in the country to stop heating up the polity but concentrate on issues that can bring development to Nigeria and improve the welfare of the people.

    The workers also condemned recent attacks on security personnel in Bayelsa State; Bama, Borno State; Assakyo Village, Nasarawa State; and Benue state; describing the killings as acts of revolt against the Nigeria state.

    They charged the Federal Government, especially the service chiefs, the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) and the Director of the Department of the State Security (DSS) to ensure that perpetrators of the evil killings are brought to book.

    Speaking against the backdrop of the political intrigues in the country, PENGASSAN President, Comrade Babatunde Ogun, called on the politicians to let their discussions be people and development driven rather than witch- hunting and campaign of calumny.

    Comrade Ogun said the recent wrangling among politicians is not necessary and charged the politicians to channel their efforts and strength towards developmental projects and ending criminal attacks and other insecurity issues that are threatening the survival of the Nigeria entity.

    He said that the politicians should not let the labour of those that fought for the emancipation and freedom of Nigeria from the Nigeria be in vain through the inflammatory statements and inciting comments.

    “The recent attacks and counter attacks by various political parties and groups in the country cannot help us to achieve anything. I believe by now the government needs to identify issues that require urgent attention instead of dissipating its energy on unnecessarily dwelling on issues that can be trashed out in house among the parties.

    “The attitude of the politicians is further causing disaffection and disunity among Nigerians and threatens the survival of Nigeria as an indivisible one entity, instead of fostering unity and diversity among the people,” he stated.

    While advising President Goodluck Jonathan not to distracted by unnecessary issues and comments, especially the 2015 general elections, the union president called on Mr. President to be more focussed and determined to end killing of innocent Nigerians by religious insurgents and terrorists, as well as kidnapping in the country.

    “President Jonathan should caution his aids over political inflammatory statements and the oppositions should also learn to be objective in their comments and stop inciting statements that can engulf and consume the Nigeria state.

    “Security issue and other developmental issues such as job creation, tackling corruption at all level of governance, improvement of welfare for the citizenry should be paramount in the mind of all, especially political leaders like president, special advisers and aids, ministers, governors, lawmakers at both National Assembly and state Houses of Assembly, commissioners and all political advisers to the governors,” he said.

  • PENGASSAN urges FG to stipulate disbursement mode in PIB

    PENGASSAN has called on Federal Government to ensure that the structure and mode of disbursement of the Petroleum Host Community Fund (PHCF) were stipulated in the Petroleum Industrial Bill (PIB)

    Mr Chika Onuegbu, National Industrial Relations officer of PENGASSAN, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday that the call was being jointly made with NUPENG.

    Onuegbu said that the mode and structure of the fund disbursement to host communities were not detailed in the PIB as well as the functions and objectives.

    `There must be clear provisions on the administration of the fund including such provisions, allowing the communities to decide for and by themselves the value-adding projects required by the respective communities.

    “We believe that the PHCF should include not just oil producing communities, but all communities hosting oil and gas resources and assets including downstream infrastructure.

    “This is because the entire value chain of the oil and gas industry has peculiar health, safety, environmental and community related problems.

    “A mechanism can then be developed to determine each asset’s criticality with the producing communities obviously being the most critical,“ he said.

    Onuegbu said with that no part of the country hosting any oil and gas resources, assets or facilities, would feel short-changed as it would derive socio-economic benefits from being a host.

    He said that the PIB was ambiguous on whether contributions by companies along oil and gas value chain to the PHCF would constitute immediate credit to total fiscal rent obligations.

    Onuegbu said that the PIB should be clear on such issues, adding that the fund’s provision in the PIB was polarised along political, regional and ethnic interests.

    NAN reports that PHCF laws propose that oil producing companies pay 10 per cent of their profits to the PHCF to provide socio-economic infrastructure in the host communities,

    The communities are not to draw from the fund if there is sabotage of petroleum facilities in their domain

  • PENGASSAN urges govt to fight oil theft

    PENGASSAN urges govt to fight oil theft

    THE Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) yesterday urged the Federal Government to check oil theft and pipe vandalisim that has caused a drain on the country’s resources.

    Speaking in Lagos, PENGASSAN President, Comrade Babatunde Ogun, condemned the two recent criminal acts in the sector, describing them as acts of economic sabotage.

    He said that the union condemned the two heinous acts, among other issues discussed during the last National Executive Council (NEC) meeting of the union on April 4, this year in Calabar, Cross Rivers State;

    “During our NEC in Calabar, we condemned the increasing level of pipeline vandalisation and the attendant crude oil and petroleum products theft as completely unacceptable.

    “Pipe vandalisation and the attendant crude oil and petroleum products theft constitute not just a drain on the nation’s resources but also a major environmental hazard as well as threat to our democracy and national security,” he stated.

  • PENGASSAN warns against ‘crude’ oil refining

    PENGASSAN warns against ‘crude’ oil refining

    The Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) has warned that encouraging or legalising unlicensed local refining of crude oil through ‘unconventional’ methods would not be beneficial to the country.

    PENGASSANPresident, Babatunde Ogun, said the application of crude methods to refine petroleum will not only lead to economic loss but also lead to the degradation of the environment, creating risk to communal health, safety and environment.

    “Unconventional refining of crude oil can only produce fuel (petrol). It cannot produce kerosene, diesel or black oil, for the production of other ointments. It also leads to environmental degradation, which could cause health disasters, explosions and vehicle break down,’’Ogun warned.

    He said encouraging the operations of illegal refineries by attempting to regulate their activities is an ill-wind that blows no one any good.

    Ogun said the Federal Government gave approval in principle to indigenous firms to set up refineries in the country, lamenting that so many of them failed to use the licence, which the Department for Petroleum Resources (DPR) gave them.

    He, however, urged the Federal Government to support the establishment of small refineries, as it is done in other oil producing countries.

    While commending the courage of the government in clamping down on the operators of illegal refineries in the country, he called on the government to provide adequate powr supply to run the engine of the national economy.

     

  • PENGASSAN chief seeks immigration policy review

    The Federal Government has been advised to review the country’s immigration policy to check influx of illegal immigrants into the country.

    President, Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), Comrade Babatunde Ogun, said the review would help to reduce crime.

    Ogun further said many people from Nigeria’s neighbouring countries migrate to Nigeria without proper documents.

    This, he attributed, to the porosity of the nation’s borders and lack of commitment on the part of the officers and men of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS).

    “There have been several reports of cases of attacks on the Nigerians in the Northern part of the country by herdsmen from some neighbouring countries. More worrisome is the Al Quada dimension to the insecurity in the country.

    “I think the review of the immigration policy needs to involve re-orientation, training and retraining of the officers and men of the Nigerian Immigration on protecting our borders”.

    He argued that the laxity of the policy also allowed foreigners to take jobs that are meant for Nigerians, all in the name of expatriates, stating that whereas “some of the foreigners who parade as expatriates have no specialisation that can qualify them for being in the country.”

    “With this, they take our jobs and increase unemployment in the country and violate the Nigerian law on expatriate quota,” he said.

    He charged the government to review the ECOWAS policy, which allows for free movement of goods and persons within the sub-region to curb crime in the country.

    Due to Nigeria’s strategic position in Africa, he stated that many people with various aims and intents are coming to Nigeria.

    Ogun tasked the Federal Government on the issuance of National Identification Card to citizens of the country, saying that this will be the first step towards enhancing security in Nigeria.

    “First, let the government revisit the issue of the National Identification Card, as a mode of identifying the citizens. This exercise must either be done in collaboration with the Immigration or the database be sent to the immigration, he said.

    The union President described the last National Identity Card exercise as a sham, adding that many people did not register during the exercise, while many of those who registered could not collect their cards.