The Group Managing Director of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Dr Maikanti Baru, has urged oil workers to halt their planned strike over a labour dispute involving Chevron Nigeria Limited management and the staff.
The National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) and the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) issued the strike notice last week.
Baru made the appeal in a statement by NNPC’s Group Public Affairs Manager, Ndu Ughamadu, in Abuja on Sunday.
He said he had directed the management to work with other stakeholders to resolve the issues raised by the leadership of the unions.
He appealed to the unions not to do anything that would disrupt the industrial harmony that had pervaded the sector.
Baru expressed fears that the gains of the recent past in the sector, if care was not taken, could be frittered away inadvertently.
He, however, expressed optimism that the current dispute would be settled amicably.
NUPENG and PENGASSAN had called on the National Assembly, the Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources, the NNPC and the Department of State Services to intervene in the brewing impasse between Chevron and its Nigeria staff.
The disagreements border on the company’s disclosure that the contracts with all its manpower services providers would expire by the end of October 2018.
Consequently, NUPENG and PENGASSAN, last week Wednesday, put their members on red alert.
Meanwhile, the NNPC has allayed concerns of petroleum product consumers over possible disruptions to the supply of petroleum products in parts of the country due to the ultimatum.
It gave the assurance that the corporation had adequate storage of petroleum products across the country to take care of demand.
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