PENGASSAN, NUPENG issue strike notice over job losses
Oil marketers have commenced moves to shut down depots nationwide over the inability of federal government to settle the lingering accumulated debts of over N800 billion subsidy claims just as the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) and the Nigerian Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) have issued notice of indefinite strike action to the marketers in protest against backlog of salaries owed their members and the looming job losses in the downstream sector, it was has learnt.
The notice of indefinite strike by the oil workers, which is contained in a joint communiqué issued by the marketers after their joint National Executive Council (NEC) meeting, held in Lagos on Tuesday, followed what the unions described as the continuous deteriorating welfare of its members working in the various companies owned by oil marketers.
The marketers - Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN), Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association (DAPPMA) and the Independent Petroleum Products Importers (IPPIs), which acknowledged the receipt of the planned action by the unions, have also threatened to shut down their depots, pending the resolution of the liquidity challenges in the downstream sector by the federal government.
In the communiqué signed by the legal adviser of the oil marketers, Mr. Patrick Etim, the oil marketing firms stated that the unpaid interest and foreign exchange differentials arising from the subsidy claims have forced them to gradually become insolvent and financially handicapped to continue operating profitably.
The marketers called on President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration to keep improving governance especially by correcting wrongs of previous governments and making government responsible to its contracts and responsibilities.
“For the banks, their action is to see how they can avert another round of banking system failure that could be triggered by this huge outstanding non-performing debt owed the banks by oil marketers who cannot pay because the government is yet to pay them outstanding indebtedness,” the communiqué said.
The marketers revealed that the federal government had in June 2017 made commitment to pay the outstanding bills before the end of July 2017 after the intervention of the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, who had ordered reconciliations between the marketers and the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA), in his capacity as the then Acting President.
According to the oil marketing firms, the reconciliation team was led by the Chief of Staff to the President , Mr. Abba Kyari and the Minister of Finance Minister, Mrs Kemi Adeosun.
“Further to the reconciliation, it was gathered that the Federal Executive council had approved the payment. However, the payment framework was said to have been sent to the National Assembly for approval and up till now there has been no feedback. We gathered from reliable source that the National Assembly claimed that they are yet to receive any of such requests from the Finance Minister,’’ said the communiqué.
The marketers stated that part of the N800 billion debt arose from the non-payment of the balance of over N300 billion under-recoveries under the PPPRA importation template owed the marketers.
According to the marketers, the debt has been reconciled and audited since 2015 and was provided for in the 2015 supplementary budget as well as the 2016 budgets.
The communiqué revealed that only about 20 per cent of the amount provided for in the budget was actually paid the marketers in August 2016, while the federal government had promised to pay the balance within three months, adding that nothing further has been paid despite repeated promises.
The oil firms added that the second part of the N800 billion debt arose from the failure of the federal government and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to provide foreign exchange to banks that financed the importation of the petroleum product particularly petrol in 2015.
The marketers further disclosed that the banks used their dollar confirmation credit lines with foreign banks to open the Letters of Credit at exchange rates between N168 per dollar to N198 per dollar, according to the approved PPPRA template as at the date of each import.
According to the marketers, when the Letters of credits became due, the Nigerian banks defaulted in their obligations because the CBN did not provide the dollars.
According to the marketers, when the Letters of credits became due, the Nigerian banks defaulted in their obligations because the CBN did not provide the dollars.
On the part of PENGASSAN and NUPENG, the labour unions have also raised the alarm that their members working with the oil marketing companies have not been paid salaries for up to nine months by the marketers as a result of the inability of government to redeem its commitment to pay in spite of Vice President Osinbajo’s directive to the Minister of Finance to effect payment on or before the end of July 2017.
Etim said in the communiqué that the unions in their notice of strike action, stated that in the last six months, they have been inundated by officials of the various labour units operating in the tank farms and depots across the country, complaining that that most petroleum product importers and marketing companies owe their members backlog of salaries .
According to him, the unions also claimed that the children of their members have been sent packing from school as their parents have not received salaries to be in a position to pay school fees for their wards, while their members are systematically being sacked by their employers.
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