The Nigeria Union of Petroleum
and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) has given the military 24 hours ultimatum to
vacate the premises of an oil and gas firm.
At a media briefing in Lagos on
Thursday, NUPENG President, Mr Williams Akporeha, called on the Chief of Army
Staff to withdraw soldiers from the premises of Sterling Energy Exploration
Company (SEEPCO) and its drilling arm, British Oil and Gas Ltd located in
Warri, Delta.
“NUPENG as an organization has
written to the Chief of Army Staff that soldiers be removed from the work site,
that what we have on ground is not a terrorist situation but an industrial
relations matter.
“Our prayers right now is that
those soldiers that are there be redeployed within the next 24 hours or else we
shall have no option but to embark on a nationwide industrial action,” Akporeha
said.
He also called on the Delta State
Governor to wade into the matter, adding that the union had directed its
members in Warri to immediately shut down over intimidation by their employer
and harassment by the military.
Akporeha disclosed that over
2,000 of its members had been sacked by the oil and gas companies for active
unionism, describing the action as oppressive and a height of high handedness
on the part of the firms.
He said the firm had seven land
rigs drilling in Kwale, Warri but that only two of them belonged to the union,
adding that efforts by the other five groups to be unionised was resisted by
the multinational corporation.
Akporeha said the union in an
attempt to resolve the matter, issued a press statement but was shocked that
soldiers were brought in forcing members to renounce their membership of the
union in order to keep their jobs.
He alleged that the firm owned by
Indians, forced workers with the help of the military into accepting working
conditions that were not in line with labour laws of Nigeria.
“When the union decided to
question why the company decided to continue to resist the rights of workers to
unionize, what we saw was deployment of military troops to hound and evacuate
those workers that agreed to be part of the union.
“We feel that there are some
processes that are no more fashionable in a democratic and a decent society
than bringing soldiers to intimate harmless workers who are asking for their
rights and especially just mere rights to identify with a union.
“As we speak, soldiers are
distributing new employment forms of none identification with union to members
if they must remain on the job.
“We have directed our members in
Delta State to withdraw their services in protest of this unfortunate situation
and we using this opportunity to also ask the governor of the state to
immediately intervene to avoid turning his state into a dance floor for industrial
crisis,” he said.
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