By Victor Ahiuma-Young
INDICATIONS have emerged of a looming mass retrenchment of workers by operators, marketers in the downstream sector of the nation’s petroleum industry any moment from now.

Alarmed by this development, the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria, PENGASSAN, has petitioned the Minister of Labour and Productivity, urging him to intervene and call the marketers to order to avoid unnecessary industrial unrest.

In the petition by PENGASSAN, through its General Secretary, Comrade Bayo Olowoshile, and copied the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Group Managing Director of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, Director General of State Security Service, SSS, among others, the association urged both the Labour Minister and the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources to call for a stakeholders meeting to address the issues in the interest of peace.

PENGASSAN argued that any precipitated staff redundancy or separation in the sector will be vehemently resisted with dire consequences that will no doubt cause major operational disruption and product scarcity across the nation.

The petition read: “ We have been reliably informed that the marketers in the downstream sector of the Oil&Gas sector particularly, the major players are planning to lay-off staff, under various excuses that would be count-productive to the economy.

We are hereby calling on the Federal Government through the Honorable Minister of Labour & Productivity, and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) through the Group Managing Director, to call a Stakeholder’s Forum to discuss the issue that is causing job threat as any precipitated staff redundancy or separation in the sector will be vehemently resisted with dire consequences that will no doubt cause major operational disruption and product scarcity across the nation.”