NNPC To Intervene In Chevron, Oil Workers Dispute
The Group Managing Director, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Dr Maikanti Baru, has directed the management of the organisation to work with the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers and the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria to resolve the issues raised by the unions.
The Group General Manager, Public Affairs, NNPC, Mr Ndu Ughamadu, in a statement made available to our correspondent in Abuja on Sunday, said Baru directed the management to work with other stakeholders to resolve the issues raised by the leadership of the oil industry unions.
The NNPC boss urged oil workers under the auspices of NUPENG and PENGASSAN to halt their planned industrial action over a labour dispute involving the management of Chevron Nigeria Limited and its workers.
The unions had recently called on the National Assembly, the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, the NNPC and the Department of State Services to intervene in a brewing impasse between Chevron and its employees in the country over the company’s disclosure that the contracts with all its manpower service providers would expire by the end of October.
The industry unions on Wednesday put their members on red alert, fearing that the new manpower services contracts might not serve their interests.
Thanking the oil workers for their exemplary conduct and show of support through the years, the NNPC boss appealed to the unions not to do anything that would disrupt the industrial harmony that had pervaded the sector, saying the gains of the recent past, if care was not taken, could be frittered away inadvertently.
Baru expressed optimism that the current dispute would soon be amicably settled.
The NNPC in the statement also allayed the concerns of motorists and other consumers of petroleum products over possible hiccups in supply in parts of the country due to the unions’ ultimatum, assuring that it had adequate storage of petroleum products across the country to take care of national demand.
towards continuously setting benchmarks for the industry.”
