The Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria, PENGASSAN, has ordered its members to begin an indefinite nationwide strike effective Monday, 18th December. The directive is coming as Nigerians continue to grapple with fuel scarcity following last week’s strike threat by the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria. PENGASSAN said it has no option than to call its members on strike after negotiations with the government over some labour issues stalled.
The group had earlier issued a 72-hour ultimatum to the government to intervene over allegations of anti-workers practices perpetrated against some of its members in Neconde Energy Limited, an indigenous oil company.
The union in a statement by its spokesperson, Fortune Obi, said the strike scheduled to commence midnight on Monday would be preceded by an emergency Central Working Committee meeting of PENGASSAN in the morning.
The union said it has already notified its members nationwide to be on standby for the final instructions to shut down operations if nothing is done by the relevant authorities to avert the planned strike by midnight on Monday.
PENGASSAN started the industrial action after talks with government agencies ended in deadlocked, Lumumba Okugbawa, it general secretary said.
