N10bn lost during by oil workers strike -Official

The National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas on Tuesday said that over N10bn revenue was lost during the five-day strike by its union.

Chairman, South-West Chapter of the union, Mr Tokunbo Korodo, said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria in Lagos.

NAN recalls that the operation of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation was shut down on Sept. 15 due to non-payment of N85bn pension benefits.

The strike was suspended on Sept. 19 after a meeting between the NNPC management and the two unions of oil workers.

Korodo said the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, Petroleum Tanker Drivers, NUPENG and NNPC were losing more than N2m on daily in the South-West region during the strike.

He said business activities within NNPC depot in Ejigbo and Mosinmi were also paralysed, adding food vendors and credit card sellers and other businesses also lost more than N5m within the period.

The chairman, however, said the strike was put on hold because of the intervention of the National Assembly, which promised to resolve the matter.

According to him, the NNPC management has not fulfilled its own part of the pension scheme till now.

He said, “The NNPC management has not paid their N85 billion pension till now.

“We are imploring the National Assembly to prevail on the NNPC management to pay their part of the scheme because oil workers have paid their part.”