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NUPENG PRESIDENT-”NUPENG strike is going to be worse than ASUU’S”

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The Nigerian Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers has  threatened to embark on strike if the ongoing divestment in the oil  sector by some multinationals was not halted.
Mr Igwe Atuche, the President of NUPENG, said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria in Abuja on Friday.
Atuche deplored the ongoing divestment, saying it was intended to  sabotage the Federal Government’s efforts to reposition the petroleum  sector.
He said that the situation had raised concerns about the sincerity of government to refocus the sector.
Atuche urged the government to demonstrate its resolve on the issue by checking the divestment trend.
He also said that one of the drawbacks of withdrawal of interests in the sector would be loss of jobs by Nigerians.
Atuche therefore called on the government to constitute a team to  look into the issue, warning that unless this was done, the union would  call out its members on strike.
“We are actually planning a strike, going by the recent development in the oil sector.
“We are concerned about the activities of the multinational  organisations, including Shell, Chevron, Mobil and others, where we  believe the government has 60 per cent investments, yet today, a lot of  divestment is going on in the sector.
“In the last World Economic Summit, Shell said it was going to divest about one billion-dollar equity in Nigeria.
“Our question is who gave the approval to divest. As I speak to you,  there is serious divestment going on in Shell, Chevron, Mobil, Total and  Agip,” he said.
The union president said that if the union was pushed to embark on  strike, it might be worse than the recent one by the Academic Staff  Union of Universities.

He said that the union would continue to fight until the right of workers in the sector were respected.
Atuche accused the multinationals of unfair labour practices, saying  that some Nigerians in the companies had remained as casual or contract  workers for many years.
He also called on the government to do all it could to ensure that refineries in the country worked optimally.
Atuche said that the position of the union on the issues, especially  the divestment of equity, had been communicated to the Federal  Government.
Source: THE PUNCH

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