Chairman, Lagos Zone of Petroleum, Natural Gas, Senior Staff Association of Nigeria, (PENGASSAN), Comrade Folorunso Oginni, has explained why the union did not shut down oil operations as it threatened.
He said that Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC) directed the union not to shut down until further notice.
He disclosed this to LEADERSHIP in an interview, yesterday even as he said that since they were an affiliate of TUC, they must act according to instruction.
Oginni added that after the meeting between members of NLC and Federal Government, we were given instruction not to shut down operation.
“We have started the gradual shutting down of our operations before we got the instruction from NLC and we had to delay it. But people are complaining that we should have shut down to make the strike more effective”, he said.
“I don’t want the masses to put the blame on us because we work according to instruction given by NLC and TUC”, he said.
It would be recalled that members in the upstream sector of the Petroleum industry had prepare to shut down production since the Federal Government refused to revert the pump price of Petrol to pre-January 1, 2012 price of N65 per litre.
President of PENGASSN, Comrade Babatunde Ogun, during a press conference insisted that members were fully participating in the strike and mass action as directed by NLC and TUC.
He said, “In the light of the current situation in the country, which has necessitated the ongoing strike, it beholds on me as PENGASSAN President to make the following statements.