The long queues for fuel at petrol stations might soon come to an end.
The National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas (NUPENG) and the
Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria
(PENGASSAN) have called off the strike which they embarked upon on
Wednesday, March 9.
The decision to end the strike is as a result of a late night meeting
with the Minister of state for Petroleum Resources, Ibe Kachikwu on
Thursday, March 10.
The unions had gone on strike following the announcements of the
proposed restructuring of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation,
NNPC by Kachikwu.
The restructuring, according to Kachikwu, who is also the Group
Managing Director of NNPC, will split NNPC into 5 business-focused and 2
service driven units, a move which the unions feared would lead to loss
of jobs.
However, after assurances that jobs would not be lost in the
restructuring, the concerned parties have agreed to work together and
called off the strike.
The meeting that produced the resolution ended early on Thursday by 4:30am after which NUPENG and PENGASSAN said:
“The GECs of NUPENG and PENGASSAN had a marathon meeting with the
GMD/Minister of Petroleum (State) and NNPC Top Mgt for several hours,
ending this morning @ 4:30am on the on-going industrial action. After
exhaustive deliberations, a resolution was signed by the two parties. In
view of that, the INDUSTRIAL ACTION is hereby suspended. The GEC
salutes your SOLIDARITY, UNDERSTANDING & COOPERATION. Details of the
communique signed at the end of the meeting will be provided in due
course.”