The management of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) will meet with union officials after workers protesting the announced split of the state-owned oil company blocked the entrance to the NNPC’s headquarters on Wednesday. This is even as the fuel crisis that has assailed the nation in recent weeks has worsened.
The Petroleum Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (Pengassan) said it opposed the move to split the NNPC into five units, which was announced by Managing Director and Nigeria’s Petroleum Minister of State Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu on Tuesday. The move violates the law, the union said in a statement, which also raised concern about workers’ benefits.
Protesters prevented staff from getting into the NNPC building in Abuja, said spokesman Ohi Alegbe. “The management will discuss with them,” Alegbe said, without specifying which groups would be engaged in the talks. “I couldn’t enter my office today.”
President Muhammadu Buhari has pledged to revamp the NNPC and rid it of corruption that multiple probes have said is endemic. The company lost 267 billion naira ($1.34 billion) last year after being dragged down by its refining and oil producing businesses as the finances of Africa’s top crude exporter were battered by a slump in crude prices.
The Group Chairman, NUPENG, NNPC Branch, Mr. Odudu Udofia, told reporters in Abuja that the protest was against the unilateral decision of the minister to restructure NNPC without carrying along the stakeholders. He accused the minister of acting unilaterally.
According to him, the action aroused suspicion among workers especially given the manner the minister has been acting alone. “This even became clearer with the consolidation of operational units that have heavy financial transactions under the office of the GMD.”
Group Chairman, PENGASSAN, NNPC Branch, Mr. Salah Abdulahi, also echoed the sentiments of Udofia. He said workers had earlier expressed their opposition to the restructuring when the idea was first bandied by the minister during the annual Oloibiri Lecture last week..
Meanwhile, the Senate Wednesday directed Kachikwu to appear before it over the restructuring of the NNPC.
