Skip to main content

Nigerian oil workers go on strike



Black marketers wooing intending customer

Nigeria's two main oil workers' unions have begun a nationwide strike, threatening to hurt the output of Africa's largest oil producer.
  BBC reporters say long queues have formed at many petrol stations.
The unions, Pengassan and Nupeng, said the strike would continue until the government addressed its concerns.
These include the adoption of the delayed Petroleum Industry Bill, aimed at overhauling the sector and maintenance work on oil refineries.

The unions frequently go on strike or threaten to strike.

This time, the two unions were initially demanding the reinstatement of representatives who had been dismissed by oil companies, but now their list of complaints has grown.

They are now protesting that the government has allowed Nigeria's oil refineries to fall into disrepair and that the poor state of the country's roads is hindering the transport of oil.

They are also asking for the price of petrol to be reduced and oil theft to be stopped.

"We've commenced the strike. It will affect oil production, since all operations are on strike," Pengassan chief Babatunde Oke told Reuters.

However, an oil executive said the strike was not expected to affect output, because it would require the co-operation of large numbers of workers at production sites who would be unwilling to go that far.

"It's very difficult to shut them down, and once they do, it would take them a week to get them back up. They never do it. That's the last thing anyone wants," an oil executive told Reuters.

The BBC's Will Ross in Lagos said most of the unions' demands seemed "unrealistic, especially with an election looming".

"The refineries are not suddenly going to be fixed because of this strike. Some oil industry watchers suggest the unions are simply trying to force the government to pay them off and get a hefty Christmas present," he added.

A strike in September had little impact on oil production.

Many Nigerians, whether Christian or Muslim, travel home over the Christmas and New Year holidays and so they are stocking up on fuel now, in case of shortages in the next couple of weeks, analysts say.
SOURCE : http://www.bbc.com/news/business-30479898

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Christ the Rock Foundation Annual December Retreat

Come and receive d abundant blessing of God. Date: 23rd - 27th December. Venue: Mercyland, Afao rd, Ado-Ekiti.

President Goodluck Unveils the New N100 Notes

The new N100 commemorative notes was formally unveiled by President Goodluck Jonathan at the Presidential Villa, Abuja. Owing to the fact that the ceremony was initially scheduled for last week Wednesday but was postponed due to the president's visit to Burkina Faso. The President was joined by the Vice President Namadi Sambo and the Central bank Governor, Godwin Emefiele during the Federal Executive Council meeting.

Microsoft Rolls Out Cortana Collection To Help You Save Your Favorite Item

Cortana is an intelligent personal assistance created by Microsoft for Window 10, Window 10 Mobile, Window Phone 8.1, Microsoft Band, Xbox One, iOS, Android, Window Mixed Reality and soon Amazon Alexa. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cortana)  Microsoft's Cortana assistant can now remember what you've searched for on your device like books, TV shows, movies, recipes, and places you plan to visit (restaurants and movie theater). As stated on the official web page of Contana: "Because life isn’t limited to one device, neither is she. Set a reminder on your PC and have it pop up on your phone, or home speaker and vice versa." So AI is really taking over It will pops up whenever a user is on a webpage that might have content worth saving, like on a page to buy a book. Cortana can set reminders, recognize natural voice without the requirement for keyboard input, and answer questions using information from the Bing search engine. It is currently availab...