(Ecofin Agency) - In Nigeria, the union of oil workers has suspended the national protests which began on Wednesday, following government approval to restructure the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).

The National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) and Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), have decided to cancel the strike after a meeting with the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu on Wednesday.

The unionists had faulted the government for not consulting all stakeholders before taking the decision to restructure NNPC. They also raised concern that the restructuring might result in the mass dismissal of oil workers, Xinhuanet news reports.

However, Kachikwu said that the main reason behind the decision of the government was to meet the best practices of oil companies. He said the government will make sure that all units abide by the labor laws and workers in the oil and gas industry will not be dismissed as a result of the restructuring.

NNPC was split into seven independent units on Tuesday. Kachikwu noted that the new units were set up to make the country's oil sector more competitive and making the upstream work again.

“The reform of the NNPC is an absolute necessity and it is long overdue. It must be at the same time deep, inclusive, sustainable, well-conceived and well-implemented. The general concept of autonomous profit-making companies is good but we need more information on the rationale of this reform and the activities of these future companies as well as on the relationship between them in order to be able to assess the outlook for this reform,” Francis Perrin the chairman of Strategy and Energy Policy and the Editor of Arab Oil & Gas told Agence Ecofin.

Anita Fatunji