The hardship faced by motorists and indeed all Nigerians over the fuel scarcity of the past few days caused by the strike action embarked upon by the workers of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation over the plan of the federal government to unbundle the corporation has ended today after a meeting with the corporation’s Group Managing Director and Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu.
The management level Petroleum Senior Staff Association of Nigeria, or Pengassan, and its blue-collar Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers, or Nupeng, opposed the move to split the NNPC into five units announced this week. The unions said the move violates the law and also raised concern about workers’ benefits.
“Sequel to exhaustive deliberations between our group managing director and Pengassan and Nupeng, the corporate-wide strike has been suspended,” the NNPC said Friday on its Twitter account.
President Muhammadu Buhari has pledged to revamp the NNPC and rid it of corruption that multiple probes have said is endemic. The company lost 267 billion naira ($1.34 billion) last year after being dragged down by its refining and oil-producing businesses as the finances of Africa’s top crude exporter were battered by a slump in crude prices.
