No hand in fuel scarcity-NUPENG, PENGASSAN
www.vanguardngr.com By Victor Ahiuma-Young Wednesday, February 19, 2003
LAGOS—PETROLEUM and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), and its National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) yesterday in Lagos dissociated themselves from the scarcity of petroleum products currently being experienced across the country. But a top management staff of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) told Vanguard on condition of anonymity that the scarcity was due to an alleged stoppage of supplies by NNPC contractors used to augment local supplies who are pushing for a re-negotiation of terms of contracts following rising prices of petroleum products in the international market. However, officials of the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) will this morning meet with its striking workers in a bid to resolve the five-day-old strike as NUPENG branch of DRP yesterday joined the strike to press for the payment of their outstanding 2000 till date allowances as well as the granting of autonomy to the DPR.
In an interview with Vanguard, General Secretary of PENGASSAN, Comrade Kenneth Narebor, said: "The action is embarked upon by our DPR branch only. It is not a national action. The DPR branch has some grievances with their management and the supervising ministry over issues of outstanding salaries and allowances owed some years back and up to date.
And also, the issue of the delay in the passing of the autonomy bill for the DPR at the National Assembly. They gave a 14-day ultimatum which expired on February 14, I know that effectively on Saturday, February 15, they embarked on the strike action. It has nothing to do with the distribution and supply of fuel for local consumption at all. It is not yet a national action. There is no way it should affect fuel supplies in the country. This current scarcity could be as a result of a breakdown of the supply system. I cannot say categorically. It has nothing to do with the strike by workers of DPR. The strike can only affect the export terminal and not local supplies. It is just a unit of PENGASSAN that is on strike. If it were to affect the general public, we would have given enough notice.
"We would look at the events as they unfold . Presently, the management of DPR has called for a meeting for today (yesterday) but we asked for the meeting to be moved to tomorrow (today) for logistics reasons so that our branch officials in DPR will be able to make it to Lagos from their different locations.
We are hoping that, that meeting would be fruitful. The issues are straight forward.
Payment of outstanding salaries and allowances. It is our hope that DPR will be able to meet those demands. As for the autonomy, we are also hopeful that the National Assembly will expedite action on the passage of the bill.
"But if for any reason, the outcome of the meeting with DPR management is not fruitful, we have our processes in the association. We have to take the matter to our National Executive Council (NEC) for review. It’s only then after, we would know whether the action can extend beyond what it is."
On his part, the general secretary of NUPENG, Comrade Joseph Akinlaja declared: "It is not true that NUPENG is responsible for the scarcity of fuel being experienced in the country. What is responsible for this, I think, is the low quantity of products available. NUPENG is like the proverbial tortoise. Once there is no fuel, the first point of call is NUPENG. NUPENG has 140 branches. The DPR is just one. So, if NUPENG branch of DPR joined the strike this morning (yesterday) that could not have been responsible for the scarcity of fuel that started last week. The solution to the problem lies with NNPC. Our branch in DPR only joined the strike today."
But a senior management staff of NNPC told Vanguard on condition of anonymity that the scarcity is as a result of an alleged stoppage of supplies by NNPC foreign contractors used to supplement local supplies who are said to be currently pushing for a review of terms of contract as a result of rising prices of fuel in the international market.
He said: "look the problem is the foreign contractors that the NNPC uses to boost local supplies. Since the problem in Venezuela and the face-off in the gulf region between Iraq and U.S which has made prices of fuel to be on the increase in the international market, the contractors have been asking for re-negotiation of terms of contracts. But the NNPC has not yielded. I think they have not been supplying as required. That is the problem for now. Until it is resolved, this scarcity may persist."