By Femi Aribisala
IF you were to visit the Lagos headquarters of ExxonMobil (Nigeria) in Victoria Island, Lagos today, you would immediately notice that something strange is going on. You will find a number of people camped outside the building; sometimes chanting, sometimes dancing, sometimes shouting slogans. They are there 24/7; day and night. Surely, this is anomalous to the activities of an international oil company.

What is happening is that some of the Nigerian workers of ExxonMobil are protesting the sharp practices of the company. These practices should be of concern to all Nigerians because ExxonMobil’s treatment of its Nigerian staff is not only an affront to its workers, it is an affront to all Nigerians. A foreign company, however big and powerful, should not be allowed to come to Nigeria and maltreat Nigerians in Nigeria with impunity.

The affected Nigerian workers at ExxonMobil have not resorted to violence. They have sought instead legal redress. The matter has taken no less than 18 years within the Nigerian legal system. It has worked its way up from the High Court to the Appeal Court and, finally to the Supreme Court. In April 2018, the Supreme Court finally ruled in favour of the Nigerian workers and against ExxonMobil. But ExxonMobil has refused to abide by the verdict of the Nigerian Supreme Court.

Instead, ExxonMobil had the effrontery to use duplicity to sack all the 860 affected Nigerian workers, most of who had worked with the company for 22 years, and to lock them out of its building. This is a step it would not dare take in the United States after a Supreme Court verdict. But for some reason, it is confident it can get away with it here in Nigeria.
In a Statement issued by PENGASSAN chairman Rasak Obe, Obe frowned at the indiscriminate dismissal of Nigerian workers by ExxonMobil, in order to replace them with expatriates, thereby taking from Nigerians jobs they have successfully performed for decades.

The newly-recruited expatriate personnel currently engaged at ExxonMobil’s security department are mostly ex-service men. Their employment in replacement of Nigerian workers runs contrary to the directives of Nigeria’s National Petroleum Investment Management Services, NAPIMS, and the Nigerian Defense Ministry.

The cost of keeping one expatriate security personnel in Nigeria would pay 100 of the local security personnel currently being sacked

Betrayal



However, the message Chris Ngige delivered to ExxonMobil loud and clear is that it does not have to be subject to Nigerian laws. It can operate here in Nigeria as a law unto itself.

Instead of fighting for the rights of the Nigerian workers in Nigeria, Chris Ngige, the minister for Labour and Employment, is fighting for the rights of ExxonMobil, a foreign multinational in Nigeria.

On the very day my article was published last week, Chris Ngige, convened a hurried meeting of the parties in the dispute. However, rather than tell ExxonMobil it has to obey the verdict of the Supreme Court, he presented a settlement package contravening the position of the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court said the Nigerian workers should not regarded as “SPY Police” but as bona fide Exxon Mobil employees. But Ngige said they should be regarded as “SPY Police.” This means they would be paid based on police or civil service structures, instead of those of an international oil company. He then gave the workers 48 hours to stop their protest before any of the so-called benefits he itemised for them can be paid.


ExxonMobil 419


On July 13, 2018, ExxonMobil took its most dastardly act. It asked the workers to gather at Victoria Crown Hotel Plaza for a meeting with the company’s representatives. When they arrived there, they were addressed by one Kayode Ashoga of ExxonMobil’s HR Department. He told them to be on the lookout for messages from ExxonMobil through their respective emails and other addresses they had given to the company a week earlier in a circulated document titled ExxonMobil Employee Data Update Form.

At the end of the meeting, which lasted less than 10 minutes, the Nigerian workers went back to their various places of work, only to discover that they had been locked out by ExxonMobil, with their personal effects and property still in the offices. In effect, the workers were deceived out of their stations and then sacked and locked out.

Similar meetings were held simultaneously by ExxonMobil in other locations, including Eket, Port Harcourt and Abuja. Over 500 ExxonMobil guards were locked out at the same time on the same day. They were all denied access to their belongings, personal effects, drugs and clothing still on ExxonMobil grounds.

The Nigerian workers have shown considerable restraint in their struggle, determined to be peaceful and law-abiding. Nevertheless, ExxonMobil still took the extra-judicial act of throwing them out like common criminals, sacking them for no justifiable reason in the attempt to circumvent the obedience of the ruling of the Nigerian Supreme Court.

Since then, the Nigerian workers have camped outside ExxonMobil House in Lagos with placards demanding that the company must obey the verdict of the Supreme Court. They are there day and night.

https://opinion.premiumtimesng.com/2018/09/04/chris-ngige-fights-for-oppressive-exxonmobil-instead-of-nigerian-workers-by-femi-aribisala/

Chris ngige has been over stepping his powers right from his days as governor.

After receiving millions in bribe about two weeks ago, he has turned a blind eye. Ngige boldly approved the payment of just #800,000 as total pension for oil company workers who have served for more than 25 years. Who does that where in the world does that happen? In cohorts with exxonMobil HR directors Udom inoyo and paul mcgrath have rip the future off innocent workers And buhari says he is fighting corruption, am sure corruption only happens in the PDP

The Igbos at it again. Buhari’s EFCC witch hunt can never reach his ministers. Get your PVCs and vote out the lifeless old man

This is the type of treatment we get from our ministers and foreign multinationals for voting in a lifeless old man.

This is the same ministers that tooks months to appoint, if this set of people are buharis mr right then we have failed in this country.

Since when did the minister of labour and productivity become the MD of exxonmobil? Money change hands and you turn around and fight your own contrymen.

How on earth buhari appointed a former governor who looted the treasury of his state, calling them saints as ministers is a disaster to nigerian democrazy
Cc: lalasticlala, mynd44

What should we do now

"However, the message Chris Ngige delivered to ExxonMobil loud and clear is that it does not have to be subject to Nigerian laws. It can operate here in Nigeria as a law unto itself."


And some people would still come out to say that they support Buhari and his incompetent appointees that he wasted six months to appoint.. Neither the master nor his boys obey court orders.. They are all mad.

Bluemosquito:
This is the type of treatment we get from our ministers and foreign multinationals for voting in a lifeless old man.

Cc: lalasticlala, mynd44

so who else can tackle corruption in Nigeria

h

Don't ask me why.

LOL... One chance... How much did he collect?? EFCC over to you...

na wa

Jesus what Is this

what a shame , If you tune to skynews right now, you will see the British prime minister fighting so hard to defend decision of the government in the parliament , they are talking about protecting jobs, how the coming generation will not suffer, to protect pension and protect their economy, they are still firing her question left and right and I can tell you this woman is greater than ngige, our dullard and all member of house of assembly of looters put together.
I weep for Nigerians







..... .. . . ............ .......................

blue3k2 take note, I know you are presently stick to screen of your box TV watching APC mega rally on NTA.
I wonder what buhari discussed with that woman, probably, they talked about cow

Authoreety:
What should we do now

when your anti corruption crusaders are at the fore front of corruption and you still kill for them what does that make you?

Which way lifeless APC?[color=#000000][/color]

Only in the animal.kimgdom.csn this happen

They can't try this in South Africa or ungamds or Kenya

But Nigeria is so filthy corrupt that I once heard a Chinese staff day to his Nigerian emolee even if I kill you what will happen? Jail? Is it not money ? I will pay the price judge whatever

This is how Nigeria has disgraced themselves globally

This is unacceptable

dafemnet:
so who else can tackle corruption in Nigeria

Any body that gets rid of the old stock of politicians like chris ngige. Chris ngige is a thief and has always been, its not suprising at all to see him take bribe to fight against fellow nigerians

X

This one is Crisis Ngige o

This is what you get when you appoint politicians that are self serving.

What a shame.

When govt don't respect court verdicts, how do one expect them to.

Nigeria my country

What kind of expatriate are recruited to be security guards? Cause I am not understanding.

Shame

Gosh! am so pained, who did we offend in this country?? why are we bringing ourselves down, why employ foreigners for jobs Nigerians can do,this country, infact i don't know what to type anymore, this cannot happen in other countries,blacks always feeling inferior to white jeezzz!!

U don't have a precedent and u don't have a country. Nigeria shit.... Buhari lifeless it can't work like that.

This is what happened. 2019 must be the changer

Really sad. The state of affairs in Nigeria..sigh

Report them to the LIFELESS president you VOTED into power.......




My ONLY concern is how to VOTE HIM OUT