The Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers has given the Federal Government a 72-hour ultimatum to make a definite pronouncement on the loan some members of the Jetty and Petroleum Tank Farm Owners Association of Nigeria took, which has resulted in a face-off with banks, or risk a nationwide strike with effect from Wednesday.
The union said the loan, which was to be re-paid over a 15-year period with a three per cent interest, has become a sour point between the members of JEPTCON and the banks, leading to the disengagement of some workers who belong to NUPENG.
The General Secretary of NUPENG, Mr. Elijah Okougbo, said in a communiqué issued by the union in Abuja on Sunday after its meeting, that the loan was taken by the members of JEPTCON in order to satisfy the demand for fuel importation.
The union is insisting that the Federal Government should see to the implementation of the agreement that the loan will be re-paid over a 15-year period with three per cent interest instead of the demand by the banks for the immediate repayment of the loan.
It said it was as a result of the pressure for the repayment of the loan that MRS recently sacked about 100 of its workers who are members of NUPENG.
Okougbo said in the communique: “If nothing is done to consider the satisfactory implementation of the committee reports, we will have no choice but to resume our suspended nationwide strike without further notice in order to save the livelihood of our members as injury to one, is injury to all.”
He said that letters to government agencies and individuals involved in the process have been ignored.
Among those the union wrote to were the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, the Minister of Labour and Productivity, the Group Managing Director of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation, the National Security Adviser and the Executive Secretary of the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency.
The latest of such letters were sent out on January 10, 2012.