₦airaland Forum

ruffhandu:
Something I don't understand. A job you did not create, you want to force the owner to keep you against his wish.
A question:
In time past, how much did the company pay retrenched staff? Is this severance package new?
Some staff were pouched from other companies. Like seriously? And you joined them, basking in the excitment of ditching your former employer without knowing all your new employer has to offer you? I blame the employee. He had also treated his former employer unjustly by leaving him when he is most needed.

Bottom line: Nigerians should start thinking of how to create employments and employ people, not clinging to a job created by another man. I would rather getting a paid employment is just to raise a little capital to start up something, not slaving for another till you retire. That way, Nigeria can grow.


So you'll be waiting for OANDO? I see this is the height of bad things, your destiny being on pause mode because of a company.

I do not support injustice, but I blame people who would want to tell an employer how his company must be run. Go learn how to farm

pikapizy:
SENCE U NO GET BUT U DEY CLAIM BRAIN,,......while it is advisable to have ur own business,pls be wise enough to realise not everyone can have their own business due to so many issues amongst which are the issue of low capital and competition.....BTW how many businesses do u have? so if u are working in a firm where they pay you 20k per month and you see a job of 70k u wont take it because u dont want the firm to lose u cos they need u? u really need to take ur medicine

ruffhandu:
Something I don't understand. A job you did not create, you want to force the owner to keep you against his wish.
A question:
In time past, how much did the company pay retrenched staff? Is this severance package new?
Some staff were pouched from other companies. Like seriously? And you joined them, basking in the excitment of ditching your former employer without knowing all your new employer has to offer you? I blame the employee. He had also treated his former employer unjustly by leaving him when he is most needed.

Bottom line: Nigerians should start thinking of how to create employments and employ people, not clinging to a job created by another man. I would rather getting a paid employment is just to raise a little capital to start up something, not slaving for another till you retire. That way, Nigeria can grow.


So you'll be waiting for OANDO? I see this is the height of bad things, your destiny being on pause mode because of a company.

I do not support injustice, but I blame people who would want to tell an employer how his company must be run. Go learn how to farm

Boss13:
After reading the publication and comments here, I think it is necessary to cut the crap and avoid people getting this wrong.

I have been following the Oil and Gas industry for a while and I can take you that Oando has funding issues. The company made huge investment last year before the drop in Oil prices (poor strategic decision). In order to address this concern, they divested their stake in their Downstream sector (red flag when a company is having financing issues). Recently, the company is proposing a Right Issue to existing shareholders, they are also proposing to divest further and concentrate more on Upstream (a huge financing red flag). Also, the company has a net cash deficit of over[b] N69 billion[/b] and made a loss of over N47 billion in its recently released quarterly financial results (September 2015). The Oil & Gas industry is not finding it rosy and this trend will continue. Employees should have seen the signs and begin to plan their exit. Oando must survive and it must trim its cost to address the external pressure it is currently facing. It's huge staff expense has to go down, hence the layoffs. Oando is not the only oil and gas company facing this challenge. The multinationals are also experiencing the same thing. Layoffs are currently ongoing in America.

I informed a friend that in 30 years, the Oil and Gas industry may be history because of technology. Consumer preference is shifting towards alternative energy. Vehicles may begin to run on solar or electric power, homeowners and manufacturing companies may decide to use solar power to reduce their huge energy cost. I also advised a Youth Corper to avoid applying for Oil and Gas vacancies. This is not the best time.

On the other hand, Banks are going to find it hard next year in view of the stringent economic reform plans a.k.a BUHARINOMICS. However, this sector may bounce back from 2017.

ola6:
APC!!! CHANGE!!!!

Una never see anything. Shebi una vote change? Eh na, this na change!

deebsman1:
The poster above me, u get brain die, i totally agree with you but others above, either u guys are paid spams, robots, or bots, with your sponsors thinking they can use you guys persistent abuse of a working president to bring the president down (which am sure won't work), or u yourself no get brains at all, just being stupid. During the raining days of oil windfall, the PDP govt did not plan and envisage this kind of glut, (which in turn affect the price of our major source of revenue) will come but rather busy stolen our commonwealth, now this new administration inherit a rot of decades and for you guys to be running online all the time demanding their heads to be cutted off is shameful, do you think everybody is stupid and gullible as u guys?? As for Oando, the company should pls do the needful, if sacking is the option they wanna explore, pls pay off the affected staffs adequately their entitlements, it is understood that the problem at hand is a world wide oil industry issue, and for the staffs - (no secure job anywhere o), except a job u created for yourself, am sure many of you haven't used the big fat salaries gotten while employed on frivolities alone.

osazeeblue01:
One of the CHANGE. You people know fully well that Buhari lack the quality to lead this country because of greed and tribal you people voted Buhari.

pikapizy:
SENCE U NO GET BUT U DEY CLAIM BRAIN,,......while it is advisable to have ur own business,pls be wise enough to realise not everyone can have their own business due to so many issues amongst which are the issue of low capital and competition.....BTW how many businesses do u have? so if u are working in a firm where they pay you 20k per month and you see a job of 70k u wont take it because u dont want the firm to lose u cos they need u? u really need to take ur medicine

deebsman1:
The poster above me, u get brain die, i totally agree with you but others above, either u guys are paid spams, robots, or bots, with your sponsors thinking they can use you guys persistent abuse of a working president to bring the president down (which am sure won't work), or u yourself no get brains at all, just being stupid. During the raining days of oil windfall, the PDP govt did not plan and envisage this kind of glut, (which in turn affect the price of our major source of revenue) will come but rather busy stolen our commonwealth, now this new administration inherit a rot of decades and for you guys to be running online all the time demanding their heads to be cutted off is shameful, do you think everybody is stupid and gullible as u guys?? As for Oando, the company should pls do the needful, if sacking is the option they wanna explore, pls pay off the affected staffs adequately their entitlements, it is understood that the problem at hand is a world wide oil industry issue, and for the staffs - (no secure job anywhere o), except a job u created for yourself, am sure many of you haven't used the big fat salaries gotten while employed on frivolities alone.

ruffhandu:
Contact me if you need a job bro. It depends on your level and your location sha.

dustydee:
Madcow1 hope you were not affected?

MadCow1:
Lol..

I don't work for Oando.

However, I have been well aware of the mass sacking prevailing in the Industry.

zibi2:
This is so sad..Workers have no right in Nigeria..
They have no future....
One can just wake up to find they have been locked out of a job they toiled for years to help grow...

THE LEADERSHIP,
PENGASSAN,
288, IKORODU ROAD,
ANTHONY,
LAGOS

Cc : DPR, NAPIMS
Dear Sir,

APPEAL FOR SUPPORT AND URGENT INTERVENTION
This letter would have come earlier, we painfully but sincerely admit, especially when we initially nurtured the thought of starting the Union in our entity. But for reasons which we would in the latter part of this letter highlight, we opted to defer the establishment of the Union for a more opportune time.

It is however inevitable at this time, under this strenuous circumstance, to make to you a clarion call, for desperate times call for desperate measures.
The information may have filtered through to you – by way of news or rumour – of how Oando Energy Resources (OER) have slashed a significant percentage of its work force, but we would also like to formally communicate that to you as well as the true situation of things.

On Monday, 30th of November, 2015, the CEO of OER, Mr. Pade Durotoye, called and Emergency Townhall Meeting of all OER staff at about 4:40pm. The meeting served the purpose of communicating Management’s intention to immediately embark on a retrenchment exercise. The meeting lasted about 20 minutes, till 5:00pm (i.e. COB). The staff to be affected would be communicated by way of letters, the following day Tuesday, 1st of December, 2015. It was like a bombshell and rendered the entire work floor cold with eerie silence and shell shock.

This announcement came just few weeks after the Group Chief Executive of Oando Plc, Mr Jubril Adewale Tinubu, in a townhall/video conference prior to the public release of the company’s 2014 Consolidated Financials, made a categorical statement that no Oando staff would be fired for any reason relating to the current business climate and bad business fortune occasioned by the falling oil prices which led to huge impairment losses with significant final loss on the books. Suffice here to say that the action to sack staff is a direct betrayal of the earlier assurances.

On Tuesday the 1st of December 2015, before 9:00am, the Chief Human Resource Officer, Mr. Ademola Ogunbanjo, came with the letters to the open work space, called staff to gather round and one after the other handed the letter to staff. Those who were retained got letters titled ‘Notice of Continued Service’ while those affected got letters titled ‘Notice of Redundancy’. About 90% of peopled fired were officers. Most managers retained their jobs.
We would hereby highlight our grievances, in no particular order or preference, whilst appealing to your good offices for urgent intervention:

The staff had been assured that no one will be sacked. This assurance had made a number of staff now affected, already prospecting other opportunities to put aside getting another job. This is blatant insincerity and directly oppositional to one of the company’s core values – Integrity;
The notice of redundancy was too urgent, hasty and of immediate effect;
The severance package is too meagre. The amount offered to each affected staff is less than 9% of the Annual Gross Salary;
Staff were not given enough time to handover and clear personal documents. Staff were denied access to the network and work station as early as from Friday the 4th of December 2015, a date earlier than the effective date stated on the letter being 31st December 2015;
Cost cutting and general expense reduction drive was among reasons cited for the downsizing. However, the cadre of staff mainly affected is the lower level comprising the least earners in the company. The highest earners all retained their jobs;
All staff affected have not been found wanting in terms of performance and dedication on the job. Performance on the job, going by the formal appraisal system and the company’s HR Policy, was not a yardstick that was used. One of the company’s slogan it might interest you to note is that the company is a ‘Performance Driven’ organization;
The basis for the exercise was not at any time explained. It remains unknown why those who were affected were dropped;
The distribution of letters was done as a roll call in full public glare of every member of staff rather than the more dignified way of calling staff one by one in private;
Some of the affected staff were poached from other companies less than six months ago, and they are already being evicted from the job they have sacrificed so much for;
As a company that parades itself as proudly African, it is quite ironical that only Nigerians were fired while the foreign expatriates are not affected. This is a seeming violation of Section 10 of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (“NNPC”) Act, Sections 9(1) (b) and 12(1)of the Petroleum Act and Section 28 of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Act, which generally provides that Nigerians shall be given first consideration for employment and training in the oil and gas industry;
As a company that claims to be world class, the least expected is to give a just compensation (as similar companies that have embarked on such exercise would do) and handle the process with utmost dignity and respect for human beings. This is not the case;
A few months ago, staff of the company thought of establishing a union having attained the required quorum. Management, on getting the wind of this called for a meeting, asking staff to set up a committee, which would represent an informal union, with the assurance that the committee would be accorded with the same seriousness and respect deserving. The first sign of insincerity was when 40% of elected members of the committee were forced to step down by the HR office and replaced with their own selection. The second sign was when every recommendation put forth by staff via the committee was turned down, and in exchange, HR issued out letters of what they felt they were willing to give – all be it – even without reaching any form of agreement with staff. After seeing so many staff unceremoniously laid off, a member of the management executive confessed to how the whole committee set up was intentionally orchestrated to derail staff from joining the Union;
The DPR ‘Guidelines and Procedures for the Release of staff in the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry’ (‘The 2015 Guidelines’) requires the approval of the Minister of Petroleum Resources for the release of employees from their job. We do not believe that the Minister’s consent has been obtained by OER in laying off staff;
We believe that the retrenchment exercise is malicious, ill advised, undignified, unprofessional, and demeans the years and months of dedication and hard work the staff have put in whilst with the company.
We would like you to come to our aid and intervene in the situation in a spirit of solidarity. What we demand in addition to addressing the highlighted issues are:

OER to render an unreserved apology to affected staff for treating them with indignity;
That the severance package be reviewed to an amount obtainable in companies that have retrenched staff recently especially where the staff are unionized. At least four years’ gross pay would be acceptable;
OER to agree in writing that, should oil price return to at least $50/bbl, the affected staff who are still available would be reinstated since performance was not the basis for the pruning down exercise;
OER to maintain benefits due to staff throughout their search for another job;
OER to promise in writing not to victimise staff once the business fortunes reverse and staff are to be reabsorbed;
PENGASSAN to mandate OER to establish Union in the organization;

We have also attached herewith, some documents that give evidence to our story and support our claims.
We would like your candid advice as to the next steps while anticipating your fullest support, benevolence, solidarity and comradery as we weather the storm together.

One in heart and mind,
Brothers with a common debt
Victoria Acerta!
Solidarity Forever!!
Yours sincerely,

Aggrieved staff of OER.

dustydee:
No wahala. Wish you the best.

amazingspiderma:
Honeywell,then Oando.I see nothing but companies that suddenly appeared from thin air.
Just like the political Transcrop.

Boss13:
Sir, it is better not to comment when you have little knowledge on an issue. Oando and Honeywell, two companies operating in different industries, are not companies that suddenly appeared from thin air a.k.a Shell companies. These are publicly owned companies, trading in the Nigeria Stock Exchange.

MadCow1:
Thanks..


I don update my CV dey wait for when Oil prices pick up and the recruitment process kicks off again.

I see the trend in the industry as a blessing in disguise for people like me wey still dey road dey face the Permanent site.

dustydee:
I work in the industry too and it is not looking good at the moment. My company is doing better than the completion mainly because the bulk of our clients are based in the Middle East where production costs are lower and investments are still being made (at a reduced level). Even so they are laying off some admin staff.

OZAOEKPE:
THEY VOTED FOR CHANGE, CHANGE THEY WILL GET IN FULLNESS OF TIME, AND IN FULL MEASURES

deluxecad:
This is such a stupid and myopic response to the petition. It is stated obviously that oil price is the cause of the downsizing.

feelamong:
HMMM!

obviously they voted for the change that led to the crash in oil prices and the loss of jobs in the oil sectors in US, Uk, and even in China..

Mumu is good!