The development of Gurara Suleja and Tafa Federal Constituency……My Priority
Following the prolong dispute between Sterling Oil Exploration and Energy Production Company and Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria ( PENGASSAN) over labour matters, the later has threatened to withdraw all its members from every upstream operation nationwide if issues are not addressed immediately.
The association also stated that the Federal Government must remove the 10,699 Indian expatriates working with the firm in 15 locations in the oil and gas industry.
This threat was issued at the Press conference on Tuesday in Abuja by Festus Osifo, President of PENGASSAN.
According to him, the leadership of PENGASSAN picketed at the headquarters of the oil firm due to the company’s alleged anti-labour practices and abuse of the expatriate quota system that led to discrimination against skilled Nigerian workers.
The PENGASSAN President, Osifo during the Press briefing emphasised that failure to meet the conditions of their agitation would lead to widespread disruption in the sector, as its members consist of 90 per cent of workers in the upstream segment.
” The quota allocated to the firm was in violation of section 32 of the Nigerian Content Development Board Act” Osifo said.
He said the government has the option of choosing sides with the oil firm and risking losing monumental revenue. He urged the government to comply with the existing laws and regulations.
“So if we have done all these and nothing is done, we will declare a national strike. And remember, in the upstream operation of the oil and gas industry, those that are carrying out the operations, over 90 per cent of them are our members. So by the time we withdraw our members from the upstream, the entire upstream will be grounded.” Osifo declared
