Striking Oil Workers shut down NNPC Headquarters

 

Oil workers yesterday morning shut down official and business activities at the headquarters of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) in Abuja.
Group Managing Director of the corporation Dr. Joseph Dawha was among top management staff of the NNPC that was denied entrance to the tower.
When the union workers prevented the GMD’s convoy from gaining entry, he returned back home.
The workers donned mostly in red t-shirts and bowler hat, stormed the towers early morning and barricaded the main entrance.
Business activities in the tower were crippled as staff and other users of the complex could not gain access to carry out their various commercial transactions.
The oil workers’ union said the action was to object the transfer of the operatorship by the government of onshore oil block OML 42, sold by Shell, to an indigenous company, Neconde Energy.
The workers, under the aegis of Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) said they are calling for the reversal of the award of the operatorship to Niconde.
When asked for an interview with the leader of the striking union, the workers declined to identify their leader or to talk to the press but one worker who agreed to speak but asked not to be named told our reporter that they have resolved the issues and would be dispersing from the gate before evening.
He said there was no need to talk to the press because, “We have called the GMD back, very soon you won’t see anybody here but if we have any course to come back tomorrow, I will let you know” he said.
Sources in the corporation told our reporter that work for the day was over as at 12 pm until today (Thursday) because they would not return when the gate would be eventually opened.
One staff told our reporter, “As I talk to you am already at home, if the GMD was not allowed entrance, then who am to go in. It’s past one, even if the GMD comes back, for me, I have closed for the day”.
Meanwhile, the actions by the workers over the transfer of ownership of OML 42 to two indigenous companies has been condemned by some stakeholders in the industry.
One of the stakeholders, who pleaded anonymity, claimed that the industrial action is very insensitive, and is fueled by some disgruntled senior management staff of the NPDC, who are not happy that the operatorship rights to the JV assets are being transferred to the indigenous companies who all have a 45% stake in the assets.
Chief Executive Officer of one of the indigenous companies, told our correspondent in Lagos yesterday stated that, “all of the indigenous JV partners, Neconde (OML 42), Elcrest (OML 40), Shoreline (OML 30), ND Western (OML 34) and FHN/Afren (OML 26) have the human capacity to operate the assets, with highly skilled Nigerian Oilfield Professionals; the financial capacity to tap into the equity and debt markets both in Nigeria and overseas with the ability to invest billions of Naira into the drilling of wells and multi-field developments which will increase oil and gas production dramatically and as a result, the nations revenue.”
Also speaking on the development, an energy expert, Tosin Adebayo, said the  shutting down of oil production by the workers of the  NPDC and the ongoing strike are not in the best interest of Nigerians.
He noted that the fight for operatorship by NPDC was borne out of the selfish interest of the workers to further perpetrate underperformance and corruption.