The Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) has threatened to embark on a nationwide strike if the federal government fails to remove 10,699 Indian expatriates employed by Sterling Oil Exploration & Energy Production Company Limited.
Speaking at a press conference in Abuja on Tuesday, PENGASSAN President, Comrade Festus Osifo, accused the company of violating Section 32 of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) Act by employing an excessive number of expatriates. He alleged that the Ministry of Interior, along with other government officials, facilitated the allocation of the expatriate quota, thereby limiting job opportunities for Nigerians.
Osifo warned that the association would shut down the company’s plants if the government failed to act.
“We will engage all stakeholders, but if the government does not take action, those plants will be shut down. We will declare a nationwide strike, and once our members withdraw, upstream operations will be grounded,” he said.
While he did not specify a timeline for the planned strike, Osifo stated that PENGASSAN had already instructed its members within the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) to take action, affecting lifting operations.
“As of today, their operations are already under lock and key. They cannot lift,” he added.
PENGASSAN, which represents about 90 percent of workers in the upstream oil sector, maintains that it can effectively disrupt activities in the industry through industrial action.
