Strike: Oil workers give FG two-week ultimatum

Want FEC disbanded

Th e National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), has called for the dissolution of members of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) over what they described as “low performance”. Th e union also gave the federal government, through Assets Management Company of Nigeria (AMCON), and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) two weeks to pay the terminal benefi ts of disengaged sea wharf workers or face industrial action in Abuja.

National President of NUPENG, Comrade Igwe Achese who briefed journalists at the end of the union’s National Executive Council (NEC) meeting in Abuja, also described the recovery plan of the APC-led federal government as slow, and called for an urgent step to address the suff erings of Nigerians. According to him, the need for the need for the federal government to speed up the recovery rate of the nation’s economy, is hinged on the fact that hundreds of thousands of job are lost on daily basis.

“It is very unfortunate to state clearly that workers and company that AMCON took over, AMCON has refused to pay them their terminal benefi ts since 2013, and therefore the union in a very strong resolution, is requesting the federal government to prevail on AMCON to open windows for dialogue to pay these sea wharf workers whom they took over. “Of course, you will agree with me that taking over a company such as the case of AMCON, you are taking both liabilities and assets and as such we have written series of letters to the ministry of petroleum, ministry of labour, to the security agencies, the DSS and all agencies expected to be notifi ed on this issue.

We are aware that AMCON, instead of paying these workers and negotiating the terminal benefi ts of these workers, have decided to take the matter to court and we are faced with series of adjournment since 2013. “We therefore have no choice as a union but to write an open letter to Mr President and the Acting President to take all necessary steps to address the issues of Sea wharf and that of Chevron.

“However, we gave notice to federal government in our earlier letters that failure to address these issues, the NEC in session have taken a decision that within two weeks of not addressing these issues, NUPENG will withdraw her services into Abuja and its environ. “At this point, we are also directing all our workers like the tanker drivers in the entire country to begin to wear red cloths and also carry leaves on their trucks in readiness for this struggle”. On the current economic challenges, he said, “the economic recovery plan is moving at a slow pace, we therefore call on federal government to do all it can to resuscitate the nation’s economy. We equally observed that some of the ministers of the Federal Republic of Nigeria are not performing. However, we join other Nigerians to demand that Federal Executive Council (FEC) be dissolved so as to reconstitute fresh and new performing individuals as ministers to move the country forward.

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