The meeting convened by the House of Representatives to mediate in the ongoing oil workers’ strike yesterday suffered a serious setback as major stakeholders failed to show up for the meeting that was presided by the joint House Committees on Petroleum (Downstream & Upstream) and Gas Resources.
Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke, the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) and the Nigerian Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) all snubbed the meeting.
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) had in a written reply to the House Committees stated that the workers’ crisis in the NNPC was “an internal affair”.
In the letter, the Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Thalma Dawah told the committees that the corporation was currently engaging the workers’ unions, adding that “in no time, our staff will go back to work.”
In their reactions, members of the committees were disenchanted by the snub which has become a routine occurrence by government Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).
For Hon. Emmanual Jime (Benue/APC), such disregard for legislative summons was a “deliberate attempt by agencies to undermine the National Assembly in doing its works.”
Following the action of the government officials, Chairman of the House Committee on Petroleum Resources (Upstream), Hon Muraina Ajibola, who led the meeting announced fresh summons to the listed parties. This fresh summon expects to have them appear on Tuesday, September 23.
The striking workers of NNPC started that the industrial action on Tuesday over a disagreement with its management’s over-funding of an in-house pension fund operated by the corporation. It was learnt that as at December 31, 2012, the deficit in the pension scheme was N133.56 billion.
The strike has resulted in fuel scarcity across the nation with fears that it could throw the nation into darkness.
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