The planned strike by the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas announced for Monday has been called-off by leaders of the union, following a ‘progressive’ meeting held between the union leaders, the National Association of Road Transport Owners, NARTO and the management of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, led by the Group Managing Director, Dr. Maikanti Baru.
NUPENG President, Igwe Achese, announced that the strike has been called off after the meeting.
The meeting was held at the corporate headquarters of the NNPC in Abuja and commenced around 3 pm on Monday. Achese said some of the union demands had been met, adding that for instance allowances of tanker drivers has been increased, while the conditions of service of the drivers which had expired and needed to be renewed by their employers would be looked into.
The oil tanker drivers had chosen to embark on indefinite strike to protest low wages and poor roads, said a labor union official on Sunday.
Officials of the union had met earlier last week and requested without success to meet with officials of Labor and productivity to press their demands.
According to Reuters, the oil tanker drivers from Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), one of Nigeria’s two major oil laborers’ unions, have not set an end date for their strike, said Cogent Ojobo, a regional chairman for NUPENG.
“Tanker drivers across the country will not work tomorrow so there is bound to be scarcity of petrol, diesel and kerosene,” said Ojobo, adding that petrol stations may later join the strike.
“They are protesting against the federal government because of poor remuneration, bad roads that wear out their vehicles fast and other matters,” he said.
NUPENG had been in talks with Nigeria’s government since last year but the last week’s deadline for an agreement was not met, said Ojobo.
