Johnson says the union’s ongoing strike continues until all issues raised before the Ministry of Petroleum Resources and that of Labour are fully addressed.

Mr Achike Chude Human Right Activist who was a guest on TVC Breakfast show believes Pengassan does not need to go on strike, he says the government is not sensitive to the plight of the people and it is a matter of breakdown in communication.

On the way forward he said, more people needs to be introduced into the Oil business.

Mr Johnson told journalists after a closed-door meeting at the NNPC headquarters in Abuja that the decision on whether or not to suspend the strike would be made by the national executive council of the union.

Although the key issue of redundancy in the sector is yet to be addressed at a separate meeting Tuesday with the Minister of Labour and international oil companies, presidents of both PENGASSAN and NUPENG say discussions so far have been satisfactory.

The dialogue which held at the NNPC headquarters had in attendance the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Dr Ibe Kachikwu, the Minister of Labour, Dr Chris Ngige, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters, Senator Ita Enang, the Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Dr. Maikanti Baru, and leaders of PENGASSAN and NUPENG.

One of the issues discussed is the implementation of the 2015 Collective Bargaining Agreement between the federal government and the unions.

Also tabled for discussion were the implementation of the Petroleum Industry Bill and the state under which the oil workers operate, especially with regard to lack of power and bad roads.

Before the meeting went into closed-door, Dr. Kachikwu gave the assurance that the meeting would resolve the issues amicably.

The PENGASSAN had last week declared an industrial action over the dispute, while NUPENG postponed its action pending the outcome of this meeting.

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The National Chairman of Drivers, Salimon Oladiti, while denying the purported strike, in a statement, described it as false and unfounded.

He explained that the union is dissociating itself from any form of industrial action and enjoined all members to continue in their strive to effectively distribute fuel products across the country.

Comrade Oladiti commended Government effort at ameliorating the hardship faced by Nigerians in the wake of the fuel scarcity and thus warns that any member who joins in any strike does so at his own risk.

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At the Mobil filling station in Orile, Lagos, motorists lamented having waited endlessly to buy petrol.

A welder, Samuel Johnson, said that most filling stations were not selling inside jerry cans, adding that this had kept him out of job in the last two weeks.

Johnson appealed to government to compel attendants at filling stations to be selling to those with jerry cans if they could produce their identity cards.

He said that the situation was further worsened because there was no electricity supply in the last two weeks at Orile where he works.

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Staff members and management arrived for the usual day activities on Wednesday, March 9, 2016 to discover access could not be gained into their various offices as a result of the strike.

What this spells for the economy and Nigerians is fuel scarcity as products cannot be lifted by NUPENG.

The effect is not expected to affect crude oil export except the DPR (Department Of Petroleum Resources) joins in this strike.

An emergency meeting was convened at 10pm on Tuesday the 8^th march, 2016 by group executive committee of the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) and the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) to discuss the matter and a message was sent to its members.

“The GEC of NUPENG & PENGASSAN at its meeting of 8th March 2016, which started at 10:00pm, has extensively discussed the pronouncement of the GMD on NNPC UNBUNDLING. We observed that the GMD/HMSP totally disregarded due process and failed to engage STAKEHOLDERS. Hence, from midnight today, ALL NNPC LOCATIONS will be SHUT DOWN COMPLETELY until further notice. Further directives will be communicated accordingly.”

A staff member of the NNPC, who spoke on condition of anonymity to the cable newspaper, said that he was at the corporation’s building as of 7:30am on Wednesday the 9^th March 2016 but met “it barricaded by members of PENGASSAN.

The Minister of state for petroleum resources who also is the NNPC group managing director, Ibe Kachikwu had announced the creation of seven independent units on Tuesday, namely downstream, gas and power, refineries, ventures, corporate planning and services, and finance and accounts.

Kachikwu had said the distribution of subsidiary companies of the corporation would further be restructured into direct management of the divisions. Last week, Kachikwu announced that the government was planning to unbundle the corporation into 30 profitable companies.

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TVCE [ABUJA] – Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) has opposed the sale of the refineries as scrap as suggested by the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), saying it is a fraudulent way of stripping the country of its national assets.

PENGASSAN’s National Public Relations Officer, Comrade Emmanuel Ojugbana, described the call by IPMAN as sabotage against national interest.

He lauded the efforts of the government in ensuring that the four state-owned refineries are back on stream, especially with the recent report credited to the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu, that the Kaduna and Port Harcourt Refineries will soon commence production.

Ojugbana said: “Nigerians need to ask the IPMAN leadership why they want the refineries, which can be said to be in good form now to be sold as scrap. Even when the government has shown that the refineries can work and take care of 75 per cent of the nation’s local demand of refined products.”

He said the proof that the refineries are still viable and profitable was exhibited by the Port Harcourt Refining Company (PHRC), which posted a net profit of N11.2 billion for December 2014, representing N8.2 billion or 250 per cent above the N3.2 billion posted by the company in preceding November, 2014.

“IPMAN should know that aside from the challenge of Turn-Around Maintenance (TAM) of the refineries, adequate and regular supply of crude which is the main feedstock is another major impediment to the efficient and effective operation of the refineries,” he said.

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