By Obas Esiedesa
Workers of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, NUPRC, Tuesday barricaded the entrance of its headquarters in Abuja in protest over welfare issues and poor working environment.
The workers claimed that their monies deducted from their salaries for pensions were not being remitted on time in line with the provisions of the pension act.
Led by the branch leaderships of the he Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) and the Nigerian Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers, NUPENG, workers also claimed that they lacked tools to do their jobs.
The workers in their letter to NUPRC management obtained by Vanguard, amongst other issues stated that “Despite our repeated appeals, the work environment for staff have not improved since the delineation of the defunct staff of the DPR whereby we have staff without good allocation of office space and furniture with some staff using conference rooms for work. Persistent problems with office accommodation and facilities especially in Port Harcourt office where they go months without electricity supply or Lagos without portable water supply and air conditioning among other issues is significantly affecting our member’s ability to perform their duties efficiently. We call on Management to with immediate effect make this a top priority as this greatly hampers productivity and the wellbeing of our members.
“The lack of adequate and functional working tools such as laptops, stationeries, paper, printer, ink etc. is adversely affecting the efficiency and productivity of our members. In most cases, staffs use personal computers for official work because the laptops have been outdated, non-functional in the case where they have been allocated. This is not in-line with the global best practices for data security or with the vision of the Commission to ‘Be Africa’s leading Regulator’”.
But in a swift reaction, the Chief Executive of the Commission, Engr. Gbenga Komolafe said most the issues raised by the unions have either being addressed or are in the process of being addressed.
Engr. Komolafe in a statement he personally signed, questioned the motive behind the protest, insinuating that the protesting workers may be under the influence of those against regulations introduced by the Commission to check oil theft in the country.
According to him, “The scope of the protests had all the trappings of a premeditated action which suggests that staff welfare may just have been a facade and not be the major reason behind the action; more so when some of the commentaries made by the arrowheads of the protests were extraneous to the issues contained in the Union’s letter of concern to the management.
“It is worth mentioning that since the Commission commenced strategic moves to sanitise the oil and gas industry in the country, especially with the passing of some regulations to curb oil theft and losses through operational and administrative leakages, the management has come under intense pressure and harassment from some dissatisfied stakeholders using every available weapon at their disposal”.
On the issues raised by the workers, he said: “First of all, contrary to the claims that pension deductions from staff emoluments have not been remitted to the various PFAs in line with the Pension Reform Act 2014, the Commission had fully settled all pension deductions. Evidence was attached to the response for the Union’s attention and verification.
“On the non-conducive work environment, management explained that an additional working space had been secured in Abuja, while relevant steps have been taken to fit the necessary facilities in the Port Harcourt and Lagos offices, given the fact that the properties were inherited from subsidiaries of the defunct Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation in those locations when the Commission was created about two years ago through the Petroleum Industry Act, 2023.
“The Union, the Commission noted, was fully aware that as a matter of policy computers and other working tools are procured only from accredited agents of Original Equipment Manufacturers and must follow due process under the Procurement Act 2007. As a result, all staff laptops are ordered under the Service Level Agreement with OEMs. In 2023 management successfully procured two batches of laptops for staff; and these have been and are still being allocated based on the priority list”.
Source: Vanguard
