(Ecofin Agency) - Oil workers under the aegis of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) during a protest shut down business operations at the ExxonMobil office in Lagos over the dismissal of 145 workers. The workers, who are also members of staff of Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited, a subsidiary of ExxonMobil, said they had shut down activities at the company’s Qua Iboe Terminal in Akwa Ibom State.

According to the ExxonMobil Branch Vice-Chairman of PENGASSAN, Gbenga Ekundayo, the oil and gas Company had informed the union that it was dismissing some of the workers due to low performance but the company failed to finalize talks with the union before beginning the disengagement of the workers.

“We commenced discussion with them on November 29, 2016. The company said it had too many people and needed to let some people go. And we told them that we were aware that for years it had been short-staffed. Early this year, the management instituted a new system to make it a bit transparent. We have not assessed the improvement on the system to see how transparent it is. We can only assess the appraisal system around March and April next year. We asked why couldn’t we wait and see the effect of what they had done to see if it is fair, transparent and good for the people,” he said.

The Manager, Media and Communications, ExxonMobil, Oge Udeagha, has said that special benefits were prepared for the affected workers consistent with the existing labour agreements. He said the company would continue to engage its workforce in order to resolve the situation.

“This is a limited programme that will impact a relatively small fraction of employees. Special benefits specifically introduced for this purpose will be paid to affected employees, consistent with existing labour agreements. The company is also arranging special programmes to support the transition from the company for those affected,” he stated.

Anita Fatunji