Nigeria: PENGASSAN issues 7-day ultimatum to NAOC, urges to discontinue anti-labor posture

Oil workers working under the aegis of Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria, PENGASSAN, issued a 7-day ultimatum to Nigerian Agip Oil Company, NAOC, on Tuesday to discontinue its anti-labor posture immediately and halt all forms of coercion against its members, according to a report by TV360 Nigeria.

Lumumba Okugbawa, PENGASSAN General Secretary, signed the statement in Abuja and expressed concern on "the continued unfair labour practices, high headiness and acts of intimidation on its members by the management of NAOC," despite many warnings, as per the report.

He further said that the seven-day ultimatum was to drive home its demand that the management of Agip acknowledges the issues of the anti-union posture of the Operations Divisional Manager and likewise for his redeployment. He stated the if the company fails to do the required within seven days starting on Monday, January 25, 2021, it would be faced with the escalation of the continuous industrial action.As per him, if PENGASSAN proceeds with the continuous action, the country stands to lose its production of around 200,000 barrels of oil per day.

Okugbawa said: "Recall that PENGASSAN had in a letter addressed to the company dated January 23, 2021, accused Agip Management of acts described as 'subtle threat against our members' and the demobilisation of members access to the company facilities. "

The letter reportedly urged the management of the company to withdraw the toxic memo immediately and open dialogue with the branch management who are representatives of PENGASSAN to resolve the issues and also to restore industrial harmony.

It read in part, "however, as a responsible and law-abiding Association, we view the insinuation by Agip management that the legitimate actions of the union was unlawful as laughable and a mockery of the relevant sections of the labour laws detailing on how industrial actions and disputes should follow. It is also unimaginable that the Agip Management should accuse us of deliberately avoiding meetings called to address the issues and for disobeying directives from the Federal Ministry of Labour among others. "

"Consequently, we are calling on all stakeholders and the security agencies in the country to prevail on Agip management to as a matter of national security and economic development of the country refrain from acts capable of truncating the long-existing peace between workers and management and therefore warn that we will not continue to guarantee industrial peace should the situation persist", it concluded.