The workers under the umbrella of NUPEN and PENGASSAN declared the industrial action at the early hour of yesterday follow an alleged unilateral decision of the Federal Government to unbundle the nation's petroleum company.
Consequently, the Corporate headquarters of the state oil firm in Abuja has been reopened for operations.
The branch chairman of NUPENG, NNPC, Odudu Benjamin Udofia, confirmed the development to our reporter by telephone saying,
"There was a very high powered committee (meeting) set up by the president and minister of petroleum resources which started at about 8(pm). We did not finish until 4:30 this morning"
Asked some of the resolutions reached at the meeting, he said "the union has to be involved in the process of restructuring and a committee is going to be set with a union representative to review the restructuring"
He said of the committee, "It is a continuous process. In the implementation the union must be carried along."
Our reporter gathered that normal official activities resumed at the towers this morning. An employee of the Corporation who spoke to our reporter on phone said he reported for work by 7:00am Thursday morning and that normalcy has returned.
Ibe Kachukwu, the Minister of State for Petroleum, assured them that there was no unbundling of NNPC, stressing that, what was happening was a restructuring.
“We have not unbundled NNPC. We had a press conference yesterday where I explained this,” Kachikwu said.
“What we have simply done is reorganisation. We have five business entities focused on business- Upstream, Downstream, Refineries, Gas and Power, that are there before.
“There is also ventures that capture all our little companies that were not having proper stewardship.
“They are run by individuals who report to the GMD. The NNPC is still a whole. There is nothing new that has happened.
“I have tried to explain this and I am sure the NNPC workers are members of the family, they will understand. “We are going to have a meeting, and they will be made to understand.
Perhaps the engagement has not been good enough. “NNPC has not been unbundled in the sense of breaking up NNPC into distinct institutions. I am concerned.
“I don’t want the industry shut down. I am sure we are going to resolve the issues very soon,” he further explained.
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