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| NNPC’s Group Managing Director, Mr. Andrew Yakubu |
• Stakeholders set up 13-man committee to consider union's
demands
By: Chineme Okafor
Indications emerged Wednesday that the three-day warning strike embarked upon by the National
Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) to protest alleged inhuman
treatment of its members by Chevron,
Agip and Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC), amongst others, was called
off on sympathy grounds.
A top source that was privy to the negotiations that led to
the truce late Tuesday night, which
prompted the union to call off the strike, told THISDAY that the union did so
after long hours of deliberation during which the Nigerian National Petroleum
Corporation (NNPC) Group Managing Director, Mr. Andrew Yakubu, persuaded the
union to give peace a chance.
Also during the negotiations, other stakeholders urged the
union leaders to consider the overall interest of Nigerians who will bear the
brunt of their action.
The pleadings were said to have influenced the decision by
NUPENG to call off the strike as the union Wednesday directed its members to
resume work.
The source, however, stated that some of the agreements,
which were reached at the meeting, included the setting up of a 13-man
committee, which will be headed by the permanent secretary in the Ministry of
Petroleum Resources to consider the union’s demands within two weeks in a bid
to finding lasting solutions to them.
Other members of the
committee include the permanent secretary in the Ministry of Labour and
Productivity, members of the Organised Private Sector (OPS) in the oil and gas
sector as well labour unions in the sector.
“The GMD set up a 13-man committee which will be headed by
the permanent secretary in the Ministry of Petroleum Resources and that of the
Ministry of Labour and Productivity. The committee has been given two weeks to
investigate and report its findings on the issue as well as find a lasting
solutions to the issues raised by NUPENG.
“Other members of the committee include OPS in the industry
and the labour unions. Also NARTO (National Association of Road Transport
Owners) has been given two weeks to implement its collective bargaining
agreement with tanker drivers and I think everybody is working towards a
win-win on these issues,” the source said.
The source further stated that: “The president of NUPENG,
Igwe Achese, stated in the meeting that the strike was called off based on the
overall interests of Nigerians and the intervention of the GMD of NNPC.”
The NNPC had said on Tuesday that it had engaged the
Ministry of Labour and Productivity, amongst other stakeholders, to find
lasting solutions to the contentious issues responsible for the three-day warning strike.
Yakubu stated that the corporation as the oil and gas
industry leader in Nigeria had initiated efforts to seek an end to the
industrial action, adding that: “NNPC as a major stakeholder in this and as the
leader of the industry in Nigeria has been participating along with the
Ministry of Labour and other stakeholders to address the issues.”
Meanwhile, queues for fuel at filling stations in Abuja,
have begun to thin out, perhaps, based on the news that the strike had been called off.
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