PENGASSAN Commence Indefinite National Strike

The Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), on Thursday, announced that it has begun its proposed strike action following days of threatening the Federal government.

The strike action will go on despite the public holiday declared by the federal government, will begin with the gradual recalling of the union’s members from offshore, loading bays, and flow stations.

This information was contained in a statement issued by PENGASSAN’s National Public Relations Officer, Comrade Emmanuel Ojugbana.

“There is no iota of truth in the report that the strike has been called off or suspended. As we are speaking now, some of our members that are in the offshore have been withdrawn, while others who are on critical equipment have commenced gradual shutting down of such equipment before their final disengagement.”

“Our members, especially those in offices and downstream sector will join tomorrow (Friday) as they resume from the Eid el Fitri holiday.”

He also said the purpose of the strike was to reiterate their demand for government’s attention on some issues affecting the country’s oil and gas industry.

The union listed among several of its issues, the continuous irregular Joint Venture funding and Cash Call payment arrears, lack for the focus for the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), forceful co-option of government agencies in the industry into the Integrated Personnel Payroll Information System (IPPIS), and spate of redundancy and retrenchment in the oil and gas industry.