Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) has announced the extension of its earlier issued 14-day ultimatum to the Federal Government by another 7 days.
This is coming barely 4 days to the expiration of the ultimatum it gave on November 15, where it threatened to go on a nationwide strike due to non-implementation of an agreement reached with the government and others.
This disclosure is contained in a statement issued by NUPENG’s General Secretary, Mr Afolabi Olawale, on Thursday night in Lagos.
What the NUPENG General Secretary is saying
According to NAN, Olawale said that in spite of the various interventions and engagements with government agencies and institutions, issues concerning welfare of members and unfair labour practices by some oil majors had yet to be fully resolved.
He asked the government and all other concerned entities to take advantage of the extension to do the needful.
He said, “Leadership of the union is still exercising further patience and restraint to give the on-going discussions the chances of resolving these issues once and for all. The decision of the union to give another seven-day ultimatum should not be misconstrued as a sign of capitulation or weakness.
“Rather, it is a demonstration of our resolve not to inflict unnecessary pains on Nigerians or create any form of artificial scarcity of petroleum products. It is our hope that government does the needful and save the nation the pains and losses our industrial action will bring.’’
What you should know
- Recall that on November 15, 2021, NUPENG issued a 14-day ultimatum to the Federal Government with a threat to embark on a nationwide strike due to the non-implementation of an earlier agreement.
- The union in the statement said the decision was reached during a special national delegates conference convened last Thursday, for reasons ranging from non-payment of workers’ salaries, title benefits, among other issues.
- The union accused some major oil firms like Chevron, Nigeria Agip Oil Company, Nigerian Petroleum Development Company of unfair labour practices, termination of employment of contract workers, continuous owing of salaries and allowances of contract workers and so on.