ABUJA: Nigerian oil workers Friday said they would strike next week to stop Anglo-Dutch oil giant Shell from selling its oil blocks, claiming the process was not transparent.
"A three-day warning strike will commence on Monday," Igwe Achese, president of the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), told journalists.
The blue-collar union called on the government to stop Shell Petroleum Development Company (SDPC), a Nigerian subsidiary of Shell, from proceeding with the sale of some of its oil blocks in the Niger Delta.
"We have appealed that all sales as regards to oil blocks in SDPC should be reviewed and should be stopped. The sales must be transparent to Nigerians," Achese said.
The company said in a statement that its divestment of equity from some oil blocs in the Niger Delta "is compliant with its contractual rights and regulatory frameworks which guide the oil industry in Nigeria."
"The company ... rejects any suggestions that its divestment exercise is illegal, non transparent or done to undermine the interest of any stakeholders.
"Since we commenced the process last year, we have been open and transparent and have given equal opportunities to all interested buyers," said Tony Attah, Shell vice president for sub-Saharan Africa.
Attah dismissed suggestions that the company's actions were "driven by ulterior motives and being done secretly and illegally to the detriment of stakeholders."
Shell officials declined to give details on the number of blocks being sold, their worth or their importance.
NUPENG also urged Nigerian authorities to insist that Shell contractors respected labour laws which it claimed were being flouted.
"Up till this moment, most of the organisations in SPDC which called themselves third party contractors are not remitting the pension contribution of the staff and SPDC management will tell you that is not their business," Achese said.
The union complained about "unnessessary termination of appointment" of workers and denial of workers their end-of-service benefits.
Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2011
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