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N/Delta Crisis: NUPENG Threatens to Withdraw Members

Daily Trust (Abuja)
NEWS
January 30, 2006
Posted to the web January 30, 2006

By Samson Ojo

Workers in the oil and gas industry under the aegis of the National Union of
Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) and the Petroleum and Natural Gas
Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), have threatened to withdraw
their members in the various oil and gas companies in the Niger-Delta if the
government fails to resolve the crisis in the region within two weeks.
In a joint statement signed by the scribe of the two unions (NUPENG), Elijah
Okongbo and Dr. Mojibola M. Fadakinje (PENGASSAN) tagged: "Violence in the
Niger-Delta Region," warned that "if the restiveness and consequent harassment
and violence on workers in the oil and gas industry persist, we shall not
hesitate to withdraw our members in the various oil and gas companies operating
in the region."
The workers observed that the violence in the region perpetrated by militia
groups has claimed the lives of about twenty-two (22) oil workers, many taken
hostage while flow stations are being shut down in Benisede in Bayelsa state.
It therefore called on governments at all levels to urgently address the
problems of the Niger Delta region.
The text of the two page statement reads in part; "this call has become
necessary because the workers are always the first target of youth aggression
in the region. More so, majority of the oil and gas workers are from the Niger-
Delta region.
"It is particularly disturbing that this recent attack is coming less than
seven days after the abduction of four expatriate staff working for Shell
Petroleum Development Company Limited (SPDC), and whose whereabouts are still
unknown."
While imploring the different government agencies and the oil companies to
employ peaceful means to secure the release of the abducted workers, the unions
condemned in very strong terms, the acts of violence against oil and gas
workers, was according to them, "have continued to present our country as
unsafe for business to investors."

   

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