The Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association (PENGASSAN) and the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) have announced the suspension of a planned industrial action.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!The announcement was made in a communique issued, on Tuesday, after a six-hour meeting between the representatives of the unions and the Federal Government in Abuja.
The ministers of Labour and Petroleum Resources, Emeka Wogu and Diezani Alison-Madueke respectively, signed the communique on behalf of the Federal Government while the presidents of NUPENG and PENGASSAN, Igwe Achese and Babatunde Ogun signed on behalf of their unions.
Wogu, however, read the communique on behalf of all the parties.
“Trade unions in the oil and gas sector of the economy, namely NUPENG and PENGASSAN have agreed with the Federal Government to engage in social dialogue,” the communique reads in part. “We have all resolved to develop viable and workable business models for the nation’s refineries.
“Based on the above understanding, the trade unions in the oil and gas sector shall not embark on any form of industrial actions over the subject matter. The Federal Government is not selling the nation’s refineries.”
The meeting, which was held at the Ministry of Labour and Productivity, was attended by Minister of Labour Emeka Wogu and his Petroleum Resources counterpart, Mrs Diezani Allison-Madueke.
Others are NUPENG President Igwe Achese and his PENGASSAN counterpart, Mr Babatunde Ogun.
Also in attendance, were the permanent secretaries of Labour and Petroleum Resources ministries, Dr Clement Illoh and Mr Danladi Kefasi respectively, as well as National Executive members of the two unions.