In-fighting weakened Labour’s agitation – PENGASSAN

The crisis and recent division in the labour movement took a new dimension at the weekend when the president of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), Comrade Francis Olabode Johnson, warned that his union will stand on its own if the Labour centres, the Trade Union Congress (TUC) and the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), did not resolve their differences and come together.

Though the PENGASSAN president exonerated the TUC from the initial crisis affecting the ongoing labour’s struggle against the government’s unilateral increase in the price of petroleum, he however, blamed the division in the NLC leadership for the discordant tunes from its camp during the recent labour negotiations with the federal government.

In an interview with journalists in Abuja, Johnson warned that PENGASSAN would stand on its own, likewise few other unions like the Association of Senior Staff of Banks Insurance and Financial Institutions (ASSBIFI), if the TUC and NLC can no longer work together and if NLC cannot resolve its leadership crisis.

Comrade Johnson said: “One thing I know is that, definitely, for PENGASSAN and other affiliates of TUC, we are all under one umbrella as affiliates of the Congress and we agree together. There is no doubt about that. What we must however look at is that if NLC can put its house together, then for the labour centres, there cannot be a problem.

“As affiliates, we tell ourselves the truth. If we don’t look at the interest of the people and we want to continue as TUC, NLC, if we don’t come together, PENGASSAN can stand on its own. Others, like ASSBIFI, can also stand on their own. But TUC, NLC can still be united if we decide to do it and agree together on the way forward. Yes, they can be, they can be united.”

He advised the factions in the NLC to bury their egos and sentiments and to work together in the interest of the Nigerian people.

He pointed out that the major cause of the division witnessed during the negotiation with the government on the fuel price hike was the faction in the NLC.

He, however, stated that PENGASSAN and NUPENG were not placing their sectoral interest ahead of the interest of the generality of labour movement, workers and Nigerians.

Comrade Johnson said: “It is not true. I take exception to that and let me say this that NUPENG and PENGASSAN are also Nigerians. For now, except there is stability and money comes from other sources, the oil and gas industry is the mainstream of Nigeria’s economy. Until we diversify into agriculture and other sectors, oil and gas remain the mainstream of our economy.”