Nigerian Workers Call Off Protests Over National Oil Firm Split

Unions of oil workers in Nigeria on Thursday called off nationwide protests, which stalled operations of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) after government announced to restructure the state-run oil firm Tuesday.

The National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) and Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), which led the protests, decided to end the industrial action after a nightlong meeting with Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu, Minister for Petroleum Resources and NNPC Group Managing Director, on Wednesday.

Odudu Benjamin Udofia, a union leader in Abuja, confirmed the development to Xinhua.

The unionists had embarked on the protest early Wednesday, accusing the government of not bringing all the stakeholders into the decision-making process that led to the restructuring of the national oil company.

They also expressed concern that the dividing process might lead to mass layoff of oil workers.

Kachikwu, however, cited meeting the best practices of oil companies as the main reason for the government to make such a decision.

The minister pacified the protesters by saying that the government will ensure that all units respect the labor laws, and workers in the oil and gas industry will not lose their jobs due to the splitting process.

The state-run oil firm, NNPC, was on Tuesday divided into seven independent operational units.

Kachikwu said President Muhammadu Buhari has already approved the appointment of heads of the units created, adding that five of the newly created seven operational units will be strictly business-focused.

According to the minister, the new units are designed to make Nigeria's oil sector more competitive, noting the key issue is "getting the upstream working again".

Nigeria is Africa's largest oil producer, but the industry has been hit by the declining international oil price, hindering the country's economic growth.