The two main oil workers’ unions in Nigeria have said that they would be commencing an indefinite strike beginning Monday, in an effort to disrupt the output of Africa’s largest oil producer. “The strike will affect all operations in the upstream, midstream and downstream sectors of the oil and gas industry, as members will be withdrawn from all oil and gas installations,” the unions said in a joint statement on Sunday.
The Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association and the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) said the purpose of the strike is to force a new law to be passed and also meet several outstanding demands of the union. Some of which include adopting the Petroleum Industry Bill whose purpose is to overhaul the inefficient and corrupt sector and tackle unfair labor practices by both oil companies and government agencies.
The unions said the purpose of threatening the strike was to also call attention to “the inability of the government to carry out turnaround maintenance of the refineries” and its failure to decrease gas prices based on overall reduction in global oil prices.
According to AFP, workers have been mobilized and the action would “not be suspended” until the government and operators showed “a strong commitment” to resolve the issues.
Photo Credit: Pius Utomi Ekpei/AFP Photo
