The Bola Tinubu government must focus on curbing crude theft, insecurity, and full implementation of the Petroleum Industry Act, among others, to return Nigeria’s oil and gas sector on the path to growth, says the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Gas Workers (NUPENG), an industry union.
State of insecurity
According to the release signed by Williams Akporeha and Afolabi Olawale, president and general secretary of the Union, respectively, NUPENG said the daily gory tales of kidnapping for ransom, ritual, and killings, religious killings, communal clashes, and herders vs. farmers killings are so scary and discourage farmers from farming and indigenous and foreign investors/businesses from investing in the country to create jobs.
Crude oil theft
NUPENG urged the government of Ahmed Bola Tinubu to save Nigeria and Nigerians from the shame and global ridicule of the open theft of the nation’s crude oil in the international markets while the country is reeling in helplessness, hardship, and poverty.
Non-interference with PIA implementation
According to the union, the PIA’s objectives of an accountable, transparent, and responsive petroleum industry have yet to be realised. “These desirable objectives can only be achieved with strict adherence in implementation to the spirit and letters of the Act.
“Let the Petroleum Industry Act, no matter any perceived shortcomings inherent, be implemented until any further amendments are made,” they said.
Read also: Gasplus Synergy commends FG on new regulation in oil and gas industry
Fix industry work conditions
The union described the current employment and working conditions in the industry as parlous, especially for blue-collar workers.
“There is increasing degeneration, indecency, and precariousness of employment and working conditions in the industry, which can also be attributed to violence, which is one of the causes of the increasing frustrations, crime, violence, and restiveness among the youths who are continuously feeling alienated in their fatherland.
“The implementation of the Local Contents Law, which the unions in the industry fought vigorously for in the interest of Nigerian young graduates, technicians, and school leavers, has been turned into a cesspit of corruption, with the Board’s only interest being to make more millionaires out of portfolio carrying Nigerian businessmen,” the statement read.
NUPENG accused the NCDMB of being uninterested in addressing the crude behaviour and exploitative employment tactics of those unscrupulous indigenous employers and multinationals who are unfortunately exploiting and turning the Nigerian local contents law into ambits of slavery and precarious employment rather than a source of fulfilling employment and empowerment for teeming qualified young Nigerians in their fatherland.
The union called on the incoming government to declare a state of emergency in the oil and gas sector to align skills with technical competence.
Fuel subsidy
The trade union said it seeks a policy change on the issue of subsidy on PMS, “but we are deeply concerned about the failure of the successive administration to do the needful as severally advised and canvassed for by organised labour in order to avoid unintended consequences on the people and the body politic.
“We are delighted that our concerns about the dependence on importation are being addressed by the recently commissioned Dangote refinery, but we are quick to add that the administration of Bola Ahmed Tinubu should not rush into taking any decision on the policy change until the products are actually in the market from the Dangote Refinery,” the Union said.
They called for fixing the government’s refineries and robust engagement with organised labour.
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