If not resolved soon, the strike embarked upon by the Nigeria
Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers and the Petroleum and Natural Gas
Senior Staff Association of Nigeria over the administration of the workers’
pension by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation may lead to scarcity of
petroleum products in the country. The strike, which commenced on Monday, is in
protest against the cancellation of the closed pension system for the workers
of the NNPC and its replacement with the Contributory Pension Scheme. Aside
cancelling the closed pension scheme, the unions also claimed that the
management of the NNPC had also refused to fund contributions to the scheme,
which they said remained the workers’ legacy pension plan. The labour unions had on Friday given the NNPC an ultimatum to
address their concerns, which lapsed at midnight on Monday. Aside affecting all
the offices of NNPC nationwide, PENGASSAN in a statement on Tuesday, said the
strike also affected all the subsidiaries of the corporation, including the
Petroleum Products Marketing Company, Kaduna Refining and Petrochemical
Company, Port Harcourt Refining Company, and Warri Refining and Petrochemical
Company. Other subsidiaries affected are the National Engineering and Technical
Company Limited, Nigeria Gas Company, Hyson, Nigerian Petroleum Development
Company, National Petroleum Investment Management Services, Integrated Data
Services Limited and Department of Petroleum Resources. The Chairman, NUPENG,
Lagos Zone, Alhaji Tokunbo Korodo, told our correspondent on the telephone on
Tuesday that loading at all NNPC depots had been suspended and whosoever is
relying on any vessel for supply of petroleum products will not get it.
Punch Newspaper
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