Nigeria: Nupeng Threatens Industrial Action Over Sale of PPMC, NGC
 |
|
|||||||||
|
||||||||||
Daily Independent (Lagos)
9 October 2008
Posted to the web 9 October 2008
National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG)has opposed the planned privatisation of the Pipelines Products Marketing Company (PPMC)and Nigeria Gas Company (NGC)by the Federal Government.
It has also warned that it would mobilise the organised labour and other well-meaning Nigerians against the sales of the two most viable state-owned companies in the petroleum industry.
NUPENG in a statement by its President and General Secretary, Comrade Peter Akpatason and Elijah Okuogbo in reaction to the Bureau for Public Enterprises (BPE), spokesman, Mr. Joseph Chigbo Anichebe of plan to sell NGC and PPMC before the end of October 2009 stated that the news report was not only provocative, but also capable of precipitating major crisis in the oil and gas industry at this precarious time of restiveness in the industry.
The union leaders, argued that the planned sale was totally at variance with the thinking of the Oil and Gas Implementation Committee, (OGIC)which recently submitted a report to President Umaru Yar" Adua on proposals for restructuring the oil and gas sector for maximal efficiency. The statement reads: "You will recall that Eleme Petrochemical Company Limited (EPCL)was sold for peanuts to friends and cronies of government without following due process (due diligence and valuation)and serious industrial crisis that ensued there from, the consequences of which are still with us till date.
The union said "NUPENG is therefore vehemently opposed to the indiscriminate attempt to sell Nigeria Gas Company Limited (NGC)and Pipelines Products Marketing Company Limited (PPMC), the two most viable state owned companies in the oil and gas industry, and hereby warn all prospective buyers to stay clear of the companies in the interest of their investments, as NUPENG will resist the unholy take-over of these companies by such buyers.
"NUPENG condemns the haste with which the BPE has sold state enterprises in the past and is also planning to sell the NGC and PPMC. This action of the BPE and National Privatisation Council is totally unacceptable to our Union" it said
According to the union, the oil workers advised prospective buyers whose interests may have been arisen because of the report of the purported planned sale to stay clear of PPMC and NGC because both companies were not for sale.
Relevant Links
"Leaders of NUPENG advised government to rather religiously implement the OGIC in the interest of industrial peace as well as what the union calls "the oil industry from predator friends of (BPE)" it maintained
Read comments. Write your own.
|
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Copyright © 2008 Daily Independent. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections -- or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Make allAfrica.com your home page
|
RSS Feed
Sign up for FREE daily 'top headlines' by email >> | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Top | Site Guide | Who We Are | Advertising | Search | My Account | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Questions or Comments? Contact us. Read our Privacy Statement. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
