Following the prospective ‘unbundling‘ of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, oil workers have embarked on a total strike and have also shut down the nationwide operations of the national oil company.
The Minister of state for petroleum resources, Ibe Kachikwu had on Tuesday, announced the unbundling of the NNPC through the creation of seven independent divisions and 20 subsidiaries.
Subsequent to the announcement, the group executive committee (GEC) of the the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) and the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) convened an emergency meeting at 10pm to decide on how to react to the development.
The GEC of NUPENG would later send this message to all employees: “The GEC of NUPENG & PENGASSAN at its meeting of 8th March 2016, which started at 10:00pm has extensively discussed the pronouncement of the GMD on NNPC UNBUNDLING. We observed that the GMD/HMSP totally disregarded due process and failed to engage STAKEHOLDERS. Hence, from midnight today, ALL NNPC LOCATIONS will be SHUT DOWN COMPLETELY until further notice. Further directives will be communicated accordingly.”
Upon arrival at work on Wednesday morning, members of staff and management of the corporation could not gain entrance to their respective offices.