…PENGASSAN kicks

From Joe Effiong, Uyo

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The Akwa Ibom State branch of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), has passed vote of no confidence on the new Managing Director of ExxonMobil, Mr. Paul McGrath, over alleged incessant sack of workers in the company.
The National Deputy President of the association, Mr. Jude Chidinwaogu, who disclosed  this in his remarks while speaking to newsmen yesterday in Ibeno, the operational base of ExxonMobil, said the position was the climax of PENGASSAN’s congress and protest march held at Mobil Producing Nigeria (MPN),  at Lagos gate in Ibeno, Akwa Ibom.
Chidinwaogu decried the incessant sack of Nigerians by the company in place of expatriate workers, which negates the Nigerian Local Content Law.
“It is unfortunate that even with the new MD of ExxonMobil with all the repeated effort by the branch executives of PENGASSAN to have a meeting with him to look for ways forward, he has not deemed it fit to meet with us. Even on May Day, our own MD rolled out plans and suspended the union executives involved in this struggle.
“Rising from the congress with the workers, we have passed a vote of no confidence on the MD of ExxonMobil, Mr. Paul McGrath,”  he said.
According to him, the association had also resolved at the meeting to begin strike to press home their demands.
The PENGASSAN boss explained that in 2015, the management of ExxonMobil sacked many Nigerians and again in 2016, it sacked 83 staff and replaced them with expatriates.
“In the last one year,  this company has brought in so many expatriates, even into the security department. It will embarrass you to hear that in security department, over 30 expatriates are there now in the last quarter doing the job of Nigerians,” Chidinwaogu said.
He maintained that ExxonMobil was working against the interest of Nigeria through its employment policy.
“Several departments like security, procurement/logistics and maintenance have witnessed the replacement of General Managers who were Nigerians with foreign experts. And this is happening at a time we are doing cost cutting,  as we all know what is happening in the oil and gas industry these days.