Former National Public Relations Officer, PENGASSAN, Mr Oluwaseyi Gambo, on Monday, called for peaceful resolution to the current impasse between the government and the two unions in the oil and gas industry.
Gambo said in Lagos that the current impasse was unfortunate, adding that the present economic situation in the country did not call for a strike.
He said that the industry was already in a bad shape due to the activities of the so called Niger-Delta Avengers.
He alleged that the NNPC, as a regulator, had not paid its share of the counterpart funding regularly before the coming of the present administration.
“When I was national PRO, the former President of PENGASSAN, Comrade Babatunde Ogun, facilitated a meeting involving the unions, International Oil Companies (IOCs) and NNPC.
“The aim was to reconcile the cash call issue and to determine how much was owed by the IOCs.
“We even suggested that an independent international consultant firm be engaged to reconcile the amount always.
“But to PENGASSAN’s dismay while NNPC came to the table with their top officials for the reconciliation, the IOCs came with middle level officers.
“So, the meeting could not hold and that golden opportunity was lost.
“Now, it is extremely difficult to source for funding of projects in the industry because of too many uncertainties,” he said.
Gambo urged the Labour Minister, Sen. Chris Ngige to ensure the ongoing meeting resolves all the issues causing disruptions in the sector.
He suggested that the agenda should be how to give the economy a breathing space and the parties should agree that there should be no strike in the next two years.
The ongoing strike by PENGASSAN on July 8 has affected loading at Apapa depots to other states, due to the absence of workers of the Petroleum Equalisation Fund Board.
But the Federal Government and representatives of two unions are meeting in Abuja to resolve the issues.
