There has been mass sack of over 3,000 workers in Nigeria’s oil industry as the country’s economic recession bites harder, two unions have said.
The two major unions in the oil and gas sector, NUPENG and PENGASSAN, have thus threatened to go on strike saying over 3,000 of their members were affected.
The unions on Wednesday issued a 21-day ultimatum to the federal government calling for a halt to the sack of their members by international oil companies in Nigeria.
The National President of NUPENG, Igwe Achese, who addressed the media at the end of the Central Working Committee, CWC, meeting of the union in Effurun, Delta State, said government must do something urgently to stop the mass retrenchment of its members to avoid grounding the industry.
Mr. Achese disclosed that most of the companies – Chevron Nigeria Limited, ExxonMobil, Pan Ocean, Sapiem, and Hercules oil and gas limited, among others – have terminated the appointment of over 3,000 of their workers apparently over the current economic recession in the country.
“More than 3,000 of our members are affected,” Mr Achese said. “Chevron alone is about 1,500; Mobil is about 1,000; the entire workers of Hercules Oil & Gas are being asked to go home; Pan Ocean have since closed shop and are gone.
Industry-wide everybody are being asked to go.
“We are now asking ourselves where are we heading with the industry. We have lost so much of Nigerian personnel working in the oil and gas industry. What is happening in Nigeria cannot be compared to what is happening in other African countries. We want government to wake up and address some of these issues.”


The spokespersons for Chevron and Mobil, the two oil firms most involved in the mass sack, did not return calls or reply text messages sent to them on the dismissals.
Mr. Achese said if government failed to act and direct the oil companies to stop these ongoing retrenchment of their members in the sector, they would be compelled to act to protect their interest.
“It is painful to say as I address you, Chevron has wound up in the East and their offices closed. A total of 1,500 workers were sacked without their entitlements. Nobody is saying anything about it. As we speak, many companies have left and many others are winding up to go.
“The Federal Government should act fast to avert further loss of jobs. There is too much redundancy in the oil industry, which needs urgent action from government to salvage the situation,” Mr. Achese said.
The oil industry has been hit by the massive decline in global oil prices, even as armed militant groups in the Niger Delta region led by the Niger Delta Avengers continue to attack oil facilities in the country.
Oil production has been massively cut by almost half, from an average of 2.1 million barrels per to about 1.1 million barrels per day, according to recent figures by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC.

Source:

http://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/headlines/213738-mass-sack-nigerias-oil-industry-3000-affected.html

.... and CHINAKWE's dog strikes again!
Lalasticlala umu nwa

change!

Loss of jobs in pmb era will never be forgotten in d masses of this country, it is unfortunate corruption has gone deep before it can be stop.loss of jobs will prolong d time of recession in Nigeria.no hope in d work oiffice in this country.it shows pmb policy need to be checked.things are falling down in this country we are.people are loosing jobs every blessed day in this country it seems the period of economic recession will be long in this country.no hope again for d common man everything and every sector is gradually falling apart in this country.all is well.politicians are failing in their own part to restructure this country.so painful

#SaiBaba #GoHarderBuhari acting out the same stupiditý he did in the 80's. Fvckin piece of shít

Continue to applaud the bombings in the ND. This is the aftermath. Not only is the environment worse and the budget deficit increased. But now workers are being laid off.

LoveMachine:
Continue to applaud the bombings in the ND. This is the aftermath. Not only is the environment worse and the budget deficit increased. But now workers are being laid off.

Some stupid people will want to use this to score political point. The fact is that nobody likes to operate his business at a loss in an unsafe environment.

Is not funny any more. I mean is no longer funny. is not f*cking funny anymore. PMB please is time to come out and tell Nigerians how to you intend to fix this messed you created. Just under 15months. This old man will be smiling in front of camera as if Nigerians are happy with him.

Welcome to reality folks

ImoRiver:


Some stupid people will want to use this to score political point. The fact is that nobody likes to operate his business at a loss in an unsafe environment.

BINGO! We are all losing. The president has explicitly stated he wants to do right by the ND but they have stopped him at every chance. Who will want to bring in businesses to region where people decide on a whim they want more money so they will destroy the investments? And then they further threaten the owners that they had better not fix the damages until they tell them it is ok. They want development but have code named their operation red economy? This is the height of self sabotage!