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OIL AND GAS INDUSTRY REFORMS: ISSUES AND CHALLENGES FOR TRADE UNIONS. PAPER DELIVERED AT THE WARRI ZONAL WORKSHOP OF NUPENG.At the Labour House Asaba Delta State; ON 11th September, 2009 By Louis Brown Ogbeifun
By Louis Brown Ogbeifun | November 21, 2009
I most sincerely thank the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), Warri Zone, for this opportunity to share with you my thoughts on this topical issue “OIL AND GAS INDUSTRY REFORMS: ISSUES AND CHALLENGES FOR TRADE UNIONS”. Let me also acknowledge from the outset, that that the positions of the Civil Societies Working on Extractive Industries formed a rich resource for this paper.
The choice of your topic at this time is very apt because most reforms in the past were used to reduce the workforce to a “slim and mean” frame. Secondly, the problem with the Nigerian state is not the dearth of legislations but the political will needed to give teeth to legislations. Thirdly, the oil and gas industry has suffered its worst deprivation in the last five years. Fourthly, your anxiety is also justified because the policies of deregulation, liberalization and privatization as enunciated by the Federal Government; have been the major causes of agitations by the labour movement and the masses.
The oil workers have been psychologically traumatized by policies hastily packaged by globalizers who see the panacea to the myriads of problems besetting your sector as mergers, divestments, privatization etc. Your members have been physically assaulted by crude oil thieves, hostage takers and kidnappers. Apart from the untold hardships these and the Niger Delta crises have subjected you to; your equipments are perpetually being serially vandalized. White products and the nations’ commonwealth have been stolen with reckless abandon. Some of the sad effects of these are unparallel daily redundancies and early retirements carried out by companies with no end in sight.
It is worthy of note that even Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC); which is the flagship of the oil and gas sector has not been spared. The main feed line of Kaduna and Warri refineries have been blown thrice in the last six years. The capacity utilization of the refineries has been severely reduced with the end result of massive importation of dollarized petroleum products. So, we create jobs for foreign refineries at the expense of Nigeria.
At one extreme are the progressive oil and gas nations like Norway, Brazil, Kuwait, Libya and Malaysia. These countries have used oil as a socio-economic tool to transform their societies into functioning modern states. They have functioning health and educational systems, they can feed their populace, they have sustainable and enviable infrastructural development and massive investments in other countries. Despite the height of their developmental excellence, they are still adding value to their hydrocarbons through research and development in order to continuously make oil and gas money spinners for their countries.
Petróleo Brasileiro Sa (PETROBRAS of Brazil) founded in 1953 as a government-owned monopoly, Petroliam Nasional Berhad (PETRONAS; Malaysia’s national petroleum corporation established in 1974) of Malaysia, and Den Norske Stats Oljeselskap A/S (Statoil) of Norway established in 1972; were established as government’s owned National Oil companies just like the NNPC. These companies have grown into enterprises that control assets that can conveniently fend for several African States. They have even ventured into exploration and production of oil in other places including Nigeria. Petrobras is investing on Oil Prospecting Lease (OPL) 216 and 246 and Statoil have invested in Oil Prospecting Lease (OPL) 217 and 218.
On the other extreme is Nigeria that has so much wealth but confronted with extreme poverty and inability to break the shackles of underdevelopment. The bane of our underdevelopment has been leadership crises and massive corruption. The revelations of Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) since the war on corruption began have been mind boggling. Money meant to develop the country found its way into private pockets of just a few hands. As we speak, the developing story about the banking sector is frightening. Those saddled with the responsibilities of lending money for real sector development have turned banking into Christmas cake for the Directors and their cronies only. Our manufacturing sector has since collapsed, with the attendant negative impact of massive importation of everything we use and high unemployment rate.
It has been posited that the country’s present oil reserve is expected to last for about 49 years if no additional reserve is added. The country currently flares about 75% of her associated gas and hopefully would wish to have a zero flare target by the year 2010. In addition, it is also the desire of the country to increase the National Oil Reserve base from the present 36.22 billion barrels to 40 billion barrels with a daily production of 4.5 million barrels by the year 2010. Despite this wealth, we have been unable to effectively manage our oil and gas resources for the benefit of all stakeholders. For instance, the country’s four refineries that have been epileptic for several years due to:
- Unwholesome government’s intervention in the internal affairs of the NNPC
- Defective asset base;
- Excessive Bureaucratic Control;
- Inappropriate Technology
- Unfriendly environmental indices;
- Massive vandalism of products’ pipelines;
- Paucity of funds;
- Corruption;
- Lack of turnaround maintenance of the refineries;
- Smuggling;
- Niger Delta Crises and
The eventual outcomes are:
- Recurrent downtimes of the refineries;
- Intermittent fuel scarcity and its attendant effects;
- Massive importation of petroleum products;
- Creation of jobs for foreign refineries;
- Ancillary jobs created with the by-products of the refineries have been wiped out;
- High energy cost;
- High rate of inflation;
- Decayed infrastructure;
- Reduction in the country’s real income from downstream activities; and
- Involuntary retirement of about four thousand staff of the NNPC in two tranches between 2004 and 2006.
If the downstream sector has not helped the course of the Nigerian State, the upstream has also brought tears and sorrow to the dwellers of the oil rich Niger Delta region. The field of operations of the upstream sector has an array of foreign dominance both in concept and practice. These multinationals wields so much powers within the Nigerian state and the communities. They have been able to exploit, explore and produce oil within the Niger region axis without a corresponding development. This led to the extreme contestations, agitations, youths’ restiveness and militancy that nearly consumed the entire country.
To worsen the woes of the upstream operators, oil blocs became social gifts for government apologists. This is expected because the Petroleum Act of 1969, vests the Minister of Petroleum with discretionary powers to allocate oil blocs. At a time, the Sun quoted Ofurhie (2008) as saying that “between 2001and 2006, there was no open bidding for oil blocs, but only selective bidding authourized by the Presidency”
It is not by accident that we are not able to compete and develop like others. At inception, it was a deliberate attempt to perpetrate and progress the economic interests of a few Nigerians and their foreign collaborators. For instance, Petrobras, Petronas and Statoil started as well conceptualized commercial entities, while the NNPC which is the flagship of the Nigerian oil and gas industry was only positioned as a regulator. This made it possible for the upstream investments to remain the exclusive preserve of the multinationals till date.
The need to reverse the parlous state of the downstream sector, optimize the take of Nigeria in the upstream sector and eradicate corruption in the sector led the government of President Olusegun Obasanjo to embark on some radical reforms from 1999 to 2007. These include:
- Increases in the pump prices of petroleum products;
- Purchase of crude at international market price by NNPC;
- Deregulation of the downstream sector;
- Liberalization;
- Privatization of the downstream sector of the NNPC, which saw Eleme Petrochemicals buy-over by Indorama (the PHRC and KRPC sales were later reversed)
- Creation of Petroleum Products Pricing and Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) to regulate the downstream sector;
- Creation of the Nigerian Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (NEITI); and
- The creation of EFCC to combat economic and financial crimes;
Most of these reforms only laid the foundation for faceoff between the government, the labour unions and the masses. They led to series of mass mobilizations and strikes to reverse some of the government’s decisions.
Corruption rather than abate with the interventions of EFCC grew in sophistry, leaps and bounds. The two audit reports carried out so far by NEITI, showed wide range discrepancies in the financial books of the stakeholders, improper record keeping and lack of adequate institutional framework to support the modernization of the Nigerian oil and gas sector.
Worried by the unsuccessful attempts to push through some of the reforms and seeking ways to derive more benefits from the nation’s hydrocarbons; the government had to put in place the Oil and Gas Sector Reform Implementation Committee (OGIC) to seek ways of running an effective oil and gas sector. This commenced in 2000 under President Olusegun Obasanjo. This pioneering effort was supervised by the then Special adviser to the President on Petroleum matters, Alhaji Rilwan Lukman. He was again brought back in 2008 as the Petroleum Minister to implement the recommendations of the Committee.
Why reform?
According to the government, some of the reasons for carrying out the oil and gas industry reform arose from the followings:
- Legal and governance structures in place cannot cater for the needs of a modern oil and gas industry; e.g. the Petroleum Act (1969) remains a forty year old document, which was designed for the industry at its infancy;
- Obsolete NNPC Act (1977);
- Policy statements, amendments and regulations are dispersed in several documents and often difficult to locate;
- Ill equipped Ministry of Petroleum Resources;
- Infantile Department of Petroleum resources;
- The need to separate and clarify the roles between public agencies operating in the industry;
- The need to infuse strict commercial orientation in all relevant aspects of the industry;
- Repositioning of the nation’s oil and gas industry in view of the contemporary challenges within the sector both globally and in the domestic market; and
- The need to enunciate the national oil and gas policy
The Nigerian Oil and Gas Policy:
- To maximize the net economic benefit to the nation from our oil and gas resources;
- Increase value addition through further commercial processing of crude oil and natural gas;
- Putting in place appropriate fiscal regimes, promoting the profitability of operations and the improvement of linkages with other sectors of the economy;
- Elimination of systemic leakages;
- Enthrone transparency and accountability in the oil and gas sector,
- Fostering an enabling business environment with minimal interference and distortions;
- Liberalization of the sector;
- Take control of the oil and gas industry;
- Restructure in such a manner to increase levels of Nigerianization and promote greater Nigerian content;
- Continuously review the duration and terms of fiscal regimes as dictated by developments in the market; and
- Put measures in place to ensure the greater deep off-shore investments.
The work of the Committee gave birth to the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), which has gone through the second reading and a public hearing in the National Assembly.
Structure of the Bill
Aturu states “the bill was informed by the need to have all the laws relating to the industry in one simple and single form for accessibility. It deals with Fundamental Objectives, Institutions, Upstream Petroleum Joint Ventures, Downstream Licensing, Downstream Products, Indigenous Oil Companies and Nigerian Content, Health, Safety and Environment, Fiscal Provisions, Repeals and Transitional Provisions and Interpretation”.
Objectives of the PIB include:
- Harmonization of all oil and gas laws into a single text;
- Standardization of practices;
- Reduction of friction between the oil companies and the communities through improved developmental processes;
- Turnaround the oil and gas sector to best serve the interests of Nigeria;
- Reduce inter agency overlapping functions;
- Breaking NNPC into smaller but effective business units;
- Increase the participation of Nigerians in the oil and gas business;
- Set out the structures, appointments and procedures for achieving the goals of OGIC; and
- Maximization of the net benefits of Nigeria’s hydrocarbons for the benefit of Nigeria.
There are several versions of the PIB in circulation. Depending on which one that is available to you, the PIB has basically demarcated the oil and gas sector into the upstream, midstream and downstream with the following organs:
- National Petroleum Directorate (NPD);
- Nigerian Petroleum Inspectorate (NPI);
- Petroleum Products Regulatory Authourity (PPRA);
- National Midstream Regulatory Agency (NAMIRA);
- Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC LTD);
- The Nigerian Petroleum Research Centre (NPRC);
- Petroleum Equalisation Fund (PEF);
- The Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF); and the
- National Frontier Exploration Service.
Positive Features of the Bill
Civil Societies Working on Extractive Revenue Transparency, Accountability & Good Governance in Nigeria acknowledged that the PIB has some useful elements in so far as the implementation process is thorough, fair and unbiased. Some of the useful provisions of the PIB include:
- A clear statement of the fundamental objectives of the Bill;
- Provision for consumer protection (s.386),
- Provision of service to customers (s. 387);
- Competition and market regulation (s.391);
- Encouraging indigenous participation in the petroleum sector (ss398-402);
- Nigerian (local) Content (ss. 403-404);
- Entrenchment of principles of transparency, good governance and sustainable development, and
- Setting of minimum limits for Nigerian board membership and managerial and professional cadre.
Incorporated Joint Venture Companies
In order to optimize the benefits derivable from the upstream joint venture operations, the need to effectively deal with the challenges of cash calls, the PIB has proposed the incorporation of the companies in partnership with the NNPC into Incorporated Joint Venture Companies (IJV)
Issues and Challenges for Trade Unions
Community Participation and Development:
The boiling point and black spot in our national polity during the last ten years of our democratic experiment has been the Niger Delta crises. The crisis started because of the agitation for resource control, economic banditry of the region, environmental degradation, destruction of farmlands and waterways by oil spills, deprivation, and dispossession of the people, poverty and marginalization of a group of people in whose land Nigeria earns her leaving. This made life very difficult for both the oil and gas industry and the corporate citizens.
This crisis dealt severe blow to oil and gas operations with present capacity utilization declining to below 30%. Many investors and would be investors have relocated from the region. However, with the amnesty of the Federal Government it is expected that operations will gradually pickup.
The catastrophic effect of the crisis include massive redundancy of oil and gas workers, crippling of refinery operations and running round the vicious cycle of poverty, wants and deprivation with the country tuning into a net importer of petroleum products instead of the other way round.
With the agitations, one had expected that the PIB would have accommodated the interests of the oil producing communities in clear and unambiguous terms. I believe that full community participation e. g. 10% equity participation in oil businesses in the region will reassure the region, build confidence and make them buy into the post amnesty deal.
Advocacy for enthronement of Transparency and Good Governance (Section 5):
The enthronement of the principles of transparency and good governance of the NEITI Act 2007 in the Bill is heartwarming. This aims to eliminate corruption and by extension cynicism as they relate to royalties, fees and bonuses and taxes. However, the NEITI Act 2007 currently has some confidentiality clauses which the new Petroleum Industry Bill should address.
However, for this section to be effectual, it would require the supportive framework in the passage of the pending Freedom of Information Bill (FOI) before the National Assembly. It is the FOI that would strengthen your and insulate you from vendetta as you actively canvass for a transparent oil and gas sector.
Functions and Powers (Sections 9-11):
I believe that one of the challenges of the trade unions is that the Bill vested so much discretionary powers to the Ministry/Minister in charge of Petroleum, with limited oversight by the legislature. This may erode the principles of transparency and accountability.
Multiplicity of Institutions/Agencies:
The Bill sets out to create institutions and regulatory authorities for the Nigerian petroleum industry namely: National Petroleum Directorate (s. 12); Nigerian Petroleum Inspectorate (s.37); Petroleum Products Regulatory Authority; Nigerian Petroleum Research Centre (s.148); National Frontier Exploration Service (s.174); Petroleum Technology Development Fund (s. 223) and Petroleum Equalisation Fund (s.199).
It still looks to me that some of these agencies have overlapping functions. For instance, section 13(s) provides that the National Petroleum Directorate shall ‘promote compliance with all legislation by all participants and stakeholders in the industry’. This is also a critical function of the Nigerian Petroleum Inspectorate.
The elaborate institutions tend to replicate the present large bureaucratic governance structure with all its attendant work delays, strictures and high cost.
Lastly, PPRA, NAMIRA and NPI may also have been inadvertently positioned to carry out some overlapping functions of the agencies responsible for environmental standards e. g. Federal Environmental Protection Agency (FEPA); National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA).
Nigerian (local) Content (ss. 403-404):
Though there is a deliberate attempt to improve indigenous participation in the industry, there are no strict sanctions for non-compliance with the provision of this section. In the old dispensation, the understudy clause was never complied with. There was criminal and fraudulent collusion of the agencies responsible for approving expatriate quota in order to circumvent and abuse the expatriate quota process. Except there are clearly designed framework to check the abuse, we might just have returned to the starting block.
Health, Safety and Environment (Sections 405 – 413):
The Bill requires companies to submit environmental programmes to the Inspectorate for approval, but does not provide clear standards that they must seek, or guidance on most of the key environmental goals they pursue. Instead of leaving these key issues to companies to provide their own individual solutions, the Bill should have provided a coherent national approach to environmental management. This will ensure standardization of practice. Severe sanctions should also be put in place for breaches.
Gas flare out:
Apart from the advantages of gas flare out to the environment, it will also increase money accruable to companies and the country. Therefore, it is in the interest of all stakeholders that the current bill on Prohibition of Gas Flaring (2009) in the National Assembly be given a speedy passage. The penalties for violation of gas flare-out should be severe enough to discourage impunity. This can be deepened through regular environment audit and certification.
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR):
The Bill tends to have made no provision for CSR. This has been a major source of friction between the stakeholders in the oil and gas industry, which would have been well addressed in the PIB. A clear CSR policy will remove ambiguity in areas of intervention by the multinational oil companies, government, NDDC and the communities and reduce the level of agitation, contestations and societal dysfunction.
This will also provide enabling environment for you to carry out your duties as employees of the various companies. In addition, there should have been a provision of a strategic plan/memorandum of understanding with which stakeholders can be held accountable and sanctioned for breaches.
Funding of the Proposed Institutions:
Section 28 of the PIB; stipulates that the newly created institutions shall be funded through ‘fiscalised’ crude or gas payable into an account of the Directorate. This will be shared by the proposed institutions for their operations. Though not a lawyer, I perceive that the constitution provides that the oil and gas proceeds are to be paid into the federation account. If this assertion is correct, this becomes a challenge for the unions because if not appropriately resolved, your operations might be hampered by litigations.
Privatization of NNPC (Section 136):
It is my candid opinion that it is a lazy idea to sell companies just because they are not performing. The non-performance of companies is tied to certain fundamentals, which must be addressed. For instance, nobody runs a car on overdrive without adequate maintenance and expect optimal functionality of that car. The refineries were neglected overtime without maintenance. In addition, four refineries are not capable of delivering sufficient petroleum products that will service the needs of about one hundred and forty million people.
Most of the privatized companies in Nigeria are worse off than they were sold. The NITEL story is a case in issue where workers have not been paid for the past 14 months. Now the Federal government has terminated the initial sales and sourcing for new buyers. This shows that our privatization process is flawed. The global economic meltdown has proven that even the private sector is not insulated from mismanagement and collapse. Governments in America, Europe, and Asia etc; had to recapitalize and acquire shares in some of their financial institutions to save them from imminent collapse. The five banks that the Central Bank just gave bailout funds were all private financial institutions. Therefore, it does not matter who owns what, what matters is the effective management of assets be it private or public. Rather than sell the refineries, government should make concerted effort to:
- Address the Niger delta crisis, which has made it impossible to get crude to run the refineries in the last six years;
- Address the issue of pipelines’ vandalism;
- Carry out effective and routine maintenance of the refineries;
- Encourage the building of more refineries by private investors;
- Build refineries by government using the NLNG model or adopting the Mega filling stations’ management approach;
- Mandatorily compel oil companies to refine some percentage of their crude in Nigeria;
- Empower the local management to perform their functions with less distractions from the government; and
- Reduce of over bearing bureaucratic governance and incessant intervention in the internal affairs of the companies;
The Bill seeks to break NNPC into smaller manageable entities and grant her financial autonomy. There may be anxiety over job losses and redundancies, but if the reform is implemented with the best of intentions, this may be minimal because of the emergence of several new business units. The major challenges for the trade union when the present NNPC transforms from Corporation to a limited liability company may be:
- Erosion of the current union group structure;
- The thinning down of NUPENG membership; and
- Sustainability of the current pension structure even though there is a level of assurance in the Bill;
The need for social dialogue:
From all that have been said, the oil and gas industry cannot afford any more negative excitement. Therefore, there is the need for the stakeholders to embrace sincere dialogue, act responsibly, arrive at decisions through consensus building, and ensure equality in the workplace.
Legal Instruments for Social Dialogue include ILO Conventions 87 (Freedom of Association) and 154 (Collective Bargaining). The management of the human resource during transitions, mergers and takeovers are ever challenging. It gets more challenging during economic turbulence, economic depression and crisis as we just witnessed in the Niger Delta region. It requires patience and collaborative efforts of the stakeholders to reinvent the oil and gas sector of old. Social dialogue tools should be used to resolve whatever challenges the unions may encounter during the reforms.
Ogbeifun opines that “Social dialogue ensures that there is a free flow of information among the social partners. This tool if effectively used promotes the quality of Labour-Management relations in the workplace. It may be tripartite or bipartite. The platform commonly used for social dialogue in industrial relations is the collective bargaining process, which allows the representatives of all partners in the process to act responsibly in the pursuit of their constituents’ best interest. Succinctly put social dialogue: entails the building of consensus through the democratic involvement of stakeholders in the work place; has the objective of promoting opportunities for workmen (men/women) to obtain decent and productive work in conditions of freedom, equality, health and safety, security and human dignity; has the potential to resolve economic and social issues, encourage good corporate governance, foster social and industrial peace and stability, and boost productivity; is a means of achieving decent work rather than an end in itself.
One of the pre-conditions for effective social dialogue between labour and management include strong, independent workers’ and employers’ organizations. While your union is strong, I doubt if one can authoritatively say that she is truly independent.
Collective Bargaining issues (Convention No 154):
Section 408 of the Bill deals with the prohibition of forced labour, child labour and the upholding of the right to collective bargaining. Though already covered by the extant labour laws, this will further encourage all social dialogue partners to respect collective bargaining agreements.
ILO defines “collective bargaining as “all negotiation which takes place between an employer, a group of employers or one or more employers’ organization on the one hand, and one or more workers’ organization on the other for determining working conditions and terms of employment; and or regulating relations between employers or their organizations and a workers’ organization”.
In carrying out the assignment of CB, it is your right to demand for information that will assist you to bargain responsibly and effectively as enshrined in recommendation 94 and 192. These recommendations proffered a sincere two-way communication strategy between social partners through all the known information sharing platform.
Job security:
The transition from JV to IJV would need to be methodically handled because of socio-cultural differences between the partners. Hitherto before now, the JV partners rely heavily on the benchmarks from their home offices to do business with the Nigerian Government. NNPC through the Petroleum Investment Management Services (NAPIMS) only exercise some oversight functions in the operations of multinationals. In the new arrangement, S. 260 categorically vests the National Oil Company (NOC) with the powers to appoint majority of the Board of Directors of each IJV where it has majority shares In addition, it shall have the power to appoint more than 50% of the management team and 80% of the management team shall at all times be Nigerian nationals. From this scenario, it is clear that movement across the companies is imminent.
The Bill is also quite explicit on the rights of the employee as regards to transfers, secondment and recruitment. I believe that the newly created institutions will have the capacity to create more jobs. However, I am afraid that the politicization of the transition arrangements may lead to arbitrariness in job placements and involuntary retirements.
Another worry is that the immediate and post Niger Delta Crisis and the economic meltdown, may further lead to redundancies and job losses, while divestments that have taken place or on-going may also lead to restrictions in labour mobility.
More than anything else, what should be uppermost on your agenda now is how to sustain the jobs of your members before other things will follow. It is in this light that the issue of CBA should be taken more seriously by the unions as this is the only insulating instrument against early retirement, redundancies and breaches of the workers’ rights. From hindsight experience, several CBAs currently in place are weak and need to be strengthened.
Pension:
Staff migrating to any of the directorates shall be oblige their pension earnings prior the transfer of assets to the new company
Succession management:
To enable the union keep pace with the changing dynamics of industrial relations as it is with the reforms, it is necessary for union leaders to evolve a system of effective succession planning, especially at the unit, chapter and branch levels. It is disheartening to note that rather than encourage experience, selfless and astute unionists to continue in service, most of them are swept off because of political arrangement of “turn-by-turn”.
Intellectual capacity:
to effectively tackle the emerging concepts of privatization, liberalization, mergers and acquisitions as dictated by capitalists’, the union needs more than ever before high intellectual strength and capacity to effectively dilute the reasons for the concepts. This can be achieved through self development, capacity building for members in fora just as this, copious reading and investment in research and development.
Merger:
This may be a bitter pill, but I believe that if companies are merging to be stronger, the unions can also merge to become stronger. The relationship that hitherto exists between the two oil and gas unions in NUPENGASSAN should be nurtured and concertedly midwife towards a merger. This can be achieved over time through constructive dialogue by putting aside the “self” first attitude. If not now, time may make it an exigency.
Networking:
The next few years are going to be challenging because of the effects of the post Niger Delta and economic meltdown. It behooves on the union to build more alliances and networks across the globe beyond their immediate environment. The unions should be able to reach out to the political class, the bureaucrats and legislators to enable them unravel the negative impacts of the oil and gas reforms before passing the PIB into law.
Decent work:
The fight for bread and butter by the unions may be important but it should not be the sole objective of the movement. As the reforms progress, all manners of jobs may be created, outsourced or even destroyed in bid to avoid overheads. It is the responsibility of the unions to progress the course of their members through job enrichment and that management policies guarantees labour dignity.
Integrity pact:
It is in the union’s place and interest, to pursue the adoption of integrity pacts as a transparency tool that outlines the roles and boundaries of each social partner and sanctions put in place for breaches.
This paper has only helped to develop the skeleton for which the flesh will be built through discussions. It has also set the tone for finding answers to the following questions:
- If the downstream sector remains comatose, what are the likely impacts on union membership?
- Is it not possible to set an agenda for the stoppage of importation of finished petroleum products so that government can stimulate the country’s capacity to refine these products in Nigeria?
- With the incorporation of the JVs into IJVs; will transfer of staff be automatic into the new concerns?
- Will the terms of employment and conditions of service be harmonized throughout the entire institutions? If yes, what is likely to be the outcome of such burden on pension liabilities?
- Will the multinational still be committed to the partnership as they were under the JV?
- In the NNPC, will there still be the Group Executive Council of PENGASSAN and NUPENG?
- What will be the faith of NUPENG as a body since the emerging new concerns are likely to recruit workers into the senior cadre?
- Will the collective bargaining be centrally done through a negotiating council as it is in the civil service or each concern will still be able to negotiate as separate entities?
- Will the new NNPC still have the muscle to remain the rallying point for other companies as it is currently?
- To what extent will the bill bring succor to the deprived Niger Deltans that will enable you perform your roles to your companies and your members?
Concluding remarks
These are anxious moments for all employees in oil and industry as the contemplated changes are phenomenal. As a union leader, we were partners in the clamor for the re-engineering of the oil and gas sector. We agitated for a change that will guarantee pounded yam and all other Nigerian delicacies on the table for our unborn children. The change is here, let us support it.
As leaders, the true test of your effective leadership will be brought to bear during difficult times like you may soon encounter. As managers, you need to manage the emotions of your members in such a way as to give hope to their aspiration.
However, you have to be mindful of the handful hawks ready to feast on what you have laboured for. It is a truism, that most of those who served in the Committee for the reforms have been rewarded with plum appointments while others are still battling to get into top management positions in the NNPC or other agencies they created. The unions must spot this and fight the tradition and syndrome of “reform, grab, retain and plant” selves in top positions of the reformed entities. You should be vigilant to checkmate those who ran our economy aground that may resurface to hijack the reform for their selfish interests or seek to kill the PIB should it not support their selfish ends.
Let no one cow you to believe that your agitation must not extend to policy issues. Policy issues determine what happens to your take home pay. If your take home pay must take you home, if you must bequeath enduring oil and gas industry to the next generation; you must agitate for enthronement of the internal democracy in all the parties, you must canvass for a change in the way our politicians grab offices and steal votes without the consent of the people, you should advocate for transparency and accountability in governance and you must support the fight against corruption and the rule of law mantra of President Yar’Adua. Where Yar’Adua goes off limit, you should call him to order. If you fail to do these, it is most likely that the oil and gas policy may well become a tool in the hands of those that have led Nigeria to where she is today. The route may be uneasy. But you must be steadfast. You have to sacrifice in all ramifications in order to bring this to fruition, after all, no one makes omelet without breaking eggs.
Thank you for listening to me.
Solidarity! Forever
References
International Labour Organization (ILO): ((1995)); Law on Freedom of Association-Standards and Procedures.
Iyayi, F. (2009); The Global Financial Depression: Challenges for Labour – management Relations’, being address to the Labour-management Forum at PHRC, Port-Harcourt.
Civil Society Working On Extractive Revenue Transparency, Accountability & Good Governance in Nigeria (2009): Memorandum on the Petroleum Industry Bill 2009 Submitted to the House of Representatives, Abuja
Ogbeifun, L. B. (2007): The Role of Labour Unions in the Oil and Gas Industry in Nigeria: a practitioner’s perspective, Concepts Publications, Lagos.
Ojo, J (2008); No open bid for oil block, House told, Sun News online, Abuja
Owarieta, G (2009): Restructuring of Oil and gas industry prospects and Challenges’, being a paper presented at PENGASSAN Delegates’ Conference at the Confluence Beach Hotel, Lokoja.
http://www.ja.com.au/CSIR_home/article.aspx?id=13573
http://acronyms.thefreedictionary.com/PETRONAS
http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/statoil
Topics: Uncategorized |
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December 9th, 2009 at 3:55 am
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December 21st, 2009 at 12:46 pm
But no hint where to read more, gentlemen?
December 21st, 2009 at 7:43 pm
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January 28th, 2010 at 4:39 pm
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January 28th, 2010 at 6:14 pm
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February 5th, 2010 at 5:50 pm
Howdy i’m new here and would like to introduce myself
I’m from Luxembourg and come to this forum from search engine.
Nice to meet you all
February 25th, 2010 at 8:11 pm
Hello, as you can see this is my first post here.
In first steps it’s really nice if someone supports you, so hope to meet friendly and helpful people here. Let me know if I can help you.
Thanks and good luck everyone!
February 27th, 2010 at 4:20 pm
Hi,
I am new here..First post to just say hi to all community.
Thanks
March 13th, 2010 at 10:39 am
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March 13th, 2010 at 7:01 pm
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March 16th, 2010 at 12:05 pm
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April 2nd, 2010 at 11:50 am
How you think when the economic crisis will end? I wish to make statistics of independent opinions!
April 29th, 2010 at 2:32 am
Long time lurker, thought I would say hello! I really dont post much but thanks for the good times I have here. Love this place..
When I was hurt in that automotive accident my life would be changed forever. Sadly that driver had no car insurance and I was going to be hurting for ever.
This was not time for me to start and guess what to do. I had to find a good attorney to help me get what I needed. After all, my family was counting on me.
How lousy was it? I has bedridden for 7 months, I had to have constant care and my clinic bills went through the roof!
Luckily, I found a good referral site to help me.
I will post more later this period to tell you more about what I have been going through.
Anwyas thanks for the good work keep it up!
In practice, legal jurisdictions exercise their right to determine who is recognized as being a lawyer; as a result, the meaning of the term “lawyer” may vary from place to place.[4]
* In Australia the word “lawyer” is used to refer to both barristers and solicitors (whether in private practice or practising as corporate in-house counsel).
* In Canada, the word “lawyer” only refers to individuals who have been called to the bar or have qualified as civil law notaries in the province of Quebec. Common law lawyers in Canada may also be known as “barristers and solicitors”, but should not be referred to as “attorneys”, since that term has a different meaning in Canadian usage. However, in Quebec, civil law advocates (or avocats in French) often call themselves “attorney” and sometimes “barrister and solicitor”.
* In England and Wales, “lawyer” is used loosely to refer to a broad variety of law-trained persons. It includes practitioners such as barristers, solicitors, legal executives and licensed conveyancers; and people who are involved with the law but do not practise it on behalf of individual clients, such as judges, court clerks, and drafters of legislation.
* In India, the term “lawyer” is often colloquially used, but the official term is “advocate” as prescribed under the Advocates Act, 1961.[5]
* In Scotland, the word “lawyer” refers to a more specific group of legally trained people. It specifically includes advocates and solicitors. In a generic sense, it may also include judges and law-trained support staff.
* In the United States, the term generally refers to attorneys who may practice law; it is never used to refer to patent agents[6] or paralegals.[7]
* Other nations tend to have comparable terms for the analogous concept.
May 6th, 2010 at 1:27 pm
Don’t ask yourself what the world needs; ask yourself what makes you settle alive. And then begin and do that. Because what the people needs is people who induce do alive.
May 7th, 2010 at 12:51 pm
All men dream, but not equally. Those who dream by cimmerian dark in the dusty recesses of their minds, wake in the heyday to learn that it was bootlessness: but the dreamers of the time are menacing men, for they may act on their dreams with open eyes, to cause them possible.
May 7th, 2010 at 7:17 pm
The glorification of great men should unendingly be leisurely on the means they have used to acquire it.
May 21st, 2010 at 1:47 pm
We should be careful and perceptive in all the advice we give. We should be extraordinarily prudent in giving information that we would not think of following ourselves. Most of all, we ought to evade giving recommendation which we don’t mind when it damages those who take us at our word.
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June 24th, 2010 at 12:33 am
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June 30th, 2010 at 3:38 am
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June 30th, 2010 at 8:21 am
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