NUPENG strike begins in Port Harcourt

NUPENG

NUPENG members


Okafor Ofiebor/Port Harcourt

In reaction to the sack of one of its zonal executive members the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas (NUPENG) has declared an indefinite strike commencing Monday throughout the Port Harcourt zone.

The states under the zone that would be affected by the strike include: Akwa Ibom, Anambra, Bayelsa, Benue, Cross River, Ebonyi, Enugu, Imo and Rivers

NUPENG members
NUPENG members

NUPENG National President, Comrade Achese Igwe, declared this today, at the union’s thanksgiving service, held at the All Saint’s Anglican Church, Okochiri, Okrika, in Rivers State.

Igwe gave one of the reasons for the strike as the sack of one Mrs Elo Ogbonda, a staff of Total Exploration and Production (Total E&P), who also doubles as the National Zonal Secretary of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), Port Harcourt zone.

Achese Igwe emphasized that announcement is not a threat because the strike is starting from today.

“We are graduating the processes. The issue is the sack of the national zonal secretary of PENGASSAN (Port Harcourt Zone), Mrs Elo Ogbonda.So, this is the basic challenge we are talking about.
We are embarking in that strike because we have driven our processes to a level.

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He said those behind the sack of Mrs Elo Ogbonda are blacks and Nigerians. He said the union had pleaded for her reinstatement but to no avail. According to Achese Igwe,Elo was elected by the people to serve them But, all of a sudden,her company refused because she was elected as a woman; the only thing they can do is to sack her and then queried her and compel her to proceed on forced leave of absence.

He wondered why the company punitively offered a leave of absence to her.The union said that just as it was yet to access the impact of that query the next thing it saw was a sack.

Now, we have been able to study the offer you made, restore this woman to her job, you said no. That because she was elected at the Port Harcourt zone, you want to transfer her back to the Lagos zone.
“But, the answer is no; she was elected in Port Harcourt zone, you cannot transfer her to Lagos. That is the political office of the workers. The workers elected her; she is representing the workers, not representing you as an institution or as a management.”Achese lamented

The NUPENG boss, explained that the action was not to punish members of the public, especially during the Christmas period, but that they would sustain the strike, until Total E&P recalled sacked executive member.

“Nigerians know that we do not want to embark upon this strike action now. This issue has been on for a long period; we have done consultations. The Department of the State Security,DSS and the Ministry of Petroleum have also intervened and the NNPC, which is the checkmate of the oil and gas industry, have also intervened that the woman should be reinstated. But, Total E&P Nigeria Limited refused.

“They said they are ready to pack out of this country and we want to help them to pack out of the country. If they do, there are millions of investors out there who also want to invest in the oil and gas sector in Nigeria.

“We do not intend to create hardship for Nigerians. That is why we have decided to fashion out a way so that Nigerians would not feel the impact. We are not declaring a nationwide strike action as assumed. The zone where she came from would be shut down on Monday, until the issue is resolved and she is reinstated back to office. Without that, no going back.”NUPENG boss warned.

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