The Group Managing Director of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, Mele Kyari will on Tuesday appear before the House of Representatives Committee on Public Petition over the sack of some of its workers, including casualisation of others for many years.
The NNPC boss was summoned on July 13 after some causal workers with the Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company Limited petitioned the Committee on why they had not been converted to permanent workers after close to 15 years of service.
The Managing Director of the Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company Limited has also been summoned to appear same day.
The NNPC recently disengaged 850 among its 6000 workforces nationwide.
Kyari is expected to explain why the state-owned firm had laid off the workers despite federal government’s directive that no worker should be sacked job during the COVID-19 pandemic.
It reads: “That the committee shall without any hesitation invoke its powers as is enshrined in the 1999 Constitution as amended, to compel appearance of all relevant Authority and person in NNPC who have capacity and authority to take decision on this matter. Failure to attend the hearing, the committee will determined the case in your absence and compel NNPC management to carry out the decision of the House” the Senate warned in the summon letter.
However, this is coming one week after the NNPC denied the allegation by labour unions that it sacked 850 workers at the refineries.
Labour unions under the aegis of Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) and the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association (PENGASSAN) had alleged that the NNPC had sacked 850 contract workers at the nation’s refineries.
In a statement NNPC’s Group General Manager (GGM), Group Public Affairs Division (GPAD), Dr. Kennie Obateru, punctured the labour allegation, stressing that NNPC did not sack any workers.
“I’m sure they were referring to the termination of contracts between NNPC and some of its contractors at the refineries over two months ago. Because the contractors have no more contracts with NNPC, it affected their workers. So they were not NNPC workers and we did not sack our workers,” he said.
Peace Obi
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