Striking oil workers shun meeting with FG
The three-day nationwide strike by oil workers continues today as a meeting between federal government officials and the striking workers could not hold following the refusal of the workers’ representatives to attend the meeting.
The Nigerian Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) and the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) are protesting the poor state of refineries, roads and the non-passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), among other grievances.
The meeting was however shifted for tomorrow but an oil industry source told our reporter that the unions will only meet any government delegation with President Goodluck Jonathan in attendance.
“Without the president in attendance, it will be another talk shop and we won’t accept that. The issues raised are too important to be subjected to a game of hide and seek,” the source said.
The Minister of Labour and Productivity, Kabiru Turaki, who called the meeting, was absent at 11 am, the fixed time, but the Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Clement Illoh and other top ministry officials as well as those from the Petroleum Resources ministry were all present.
After waiting for over an hour for the unions, Illoh announced the postponement of the meeting.
“This meeting was called by this ministry to trash out the issues that must have necessitated this current strike and other problems in the sector. However, this meeting has been postponed to Thursday, December 18 by 11am. We sincerely apologise for this postponement,” he said.
However, NUPENG President Comrade Igwe Achese said the unions shunned the meeting because it would not have led to any fruitful outcome.
“We cannot be party to a meeting that will ultimately lead to nothing at the end of the day. What we want to see is a situation where government makes commitment by implementing some of these demands we have raised, not a series of meetings.
“It will surprise you to know that in the past eight months we have been meeting with the Minister of Petroleum Resources and other stakeholders in the petroleum industry, yet the meetings yielded nothing. You heard the Minister of Petroleum Resources bragging that there are over 17 oil vessels at the seaport waiting to discharge fuel, how do you explain the turnaround maintenance initiated by the government itself.
“We want to see regular supply of crude oil to the refineries to stop the importation of fuel from other countries which do not even have oil deposits in their soil. What is government doing about the turnaround maintenance it initiated and the Petroleum Industry Bill before the National Assembly?,” he said.
A source told our reporter that both unions will hold a Joint Action Committee (JAC) meeting today at Chida Hotel in Abuja to review the “progress made so far and to fine-tune” their tactics for an effective shutdown.
Total reacts on sacked employee
Total Exploration and Production Nigeria Limited yesterday explained the circumstances that led to the termination of appointment of one of its employees, Mrs EV Ilo, whose clamour for reinstatement forms part of the reasons for the current warning strike. Mrs Ilo is the National Zonal Secretary of PENGASSAN.
The company said in a statement by its spokesman, Charles Ogan, that following a routine corporate reorganisation, 71 employees from Port Harcourt and Abuja including Mrs Ilo were given letters of transfer to Lagos in August 2014. The statement said Ilo received her transfer and inconvenience allowances of over N9m but refused to proceed on transfer to her new location. It explained that instead of approaching the company to re-consider the transfer, she went to external parties to intervene. She sought reversal of the transfer, citing her role as a Port Harcourt Zonal official of the union.
“At the same time, she was absent from work without permission for over 30 days. Total had the option to summarily dismiss her”.
Abuja motorists groan as queues get longer
Meanwhile, motorists continued to groan as many stations monitored in Abuja did not dispense fuel yesterday.
Petrol station attendants said stocks were fast depleting as they were yet to receive fresh supplies. In some major filling stations that had fuel to dispense, many motorists jostled to buy fuel, leading to heavy traffic gridlock.
The queue grew longer early yesterday at the Total filling station close to the NNPC Towers in Abuja, just as long fuel queues were also seen at stations in Nyanya, Karu and other parts of Abuja.
Similar difficulties were experienced along Airport Road, specifically MRS, Conoil and Mobil.
Black marketers as expected, made brisk business, selling petrol at prohibitive prices. A 10 litre gallon of fuel was sold for between N2500 and N2800, depending on the buyer’s bargaining ability.
Some motorists alleged that a few filling stations adjusted their metres while those outside Abuja metropolis were selling a litre for between N100 and N150.
Oil price slumps further
Meanwhile, oil fell below $59 a barrel for the first time since May 2009 yesterday, after it slumped to $63 per barrel last Wednesday.
The latest fall was triggered by news of a fall in factory activities in China, the world’s second largest consumer of oil, and weakening emergingmarket currencies.
International benchmark, Brent crude, against which Nigeria’s oil is priced, has almost halved since reaching a 2014 high of $115 a barrel in June. Ample supply, slowing demand and a switch in strategy by exporter group OPEC to defending market share rather than prices have all hit crude prices.
Black marketers rejoice in Kaduna
Black marketers are having a good time in Kaduna as the strike moved into yet another day yesterday.
There are black market points in many parts of the city while filling stations are not selling. A black marketer who did not want his name on print said: “Before the strike, the situation was very sad for us (black marketers) but with the strike, we have become lords because people have no other option than to buy from us”.
Marketers urged to be sincere
Chairman of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) in Kwara State, Comrade Farouk Akanbi, yesterday urged petroleum marketers in the country to be sincere in their activities. He spoke against the backdrop of long queues witnessed at some filling stations following the commencement of the strike.
Scarcity bites in Port Harcourt
The scarcity continued in Port Harcourt and its suburbs yesterday. Checks by our correspondent showed that few filling stations opened for business with long queues of vehicles, though most stations were out of business.