Hiccups in oil industry have cost 150,000 jobs – TUC

The current hiccups in the global oil industry orchestrated by plummeted prices and low demand, of which Nigeria has been among the worst hit exporting countries, have led to not less than 150,000 job losses, according to the Trade Union Congress (TUC).

Virtually all the major oil companies operating in the country such as: Shell, Total, Agip, Chevron, including hundreds of indigenous oil servicing companies, have laid-off several hundreds of workers; with the latest being the Integrated Logistics Services (INTELS), Port Harcourt, which cut 500 senior level jobs early last month.

The Rivers State chairman of TUC, Hyginus Chika Onyegbu, while speaking at the 2016 Workers’ Day, informed that “workers are greatly worried about the increasing problems in the nation’s oil and gas sector, which has led to the loss of about 150,000 direct and indirect jobs.”

Onuegbu, who was speaking in Port Harcourt Sunday during this year’s Workers’ Day celebration, noted that something urgent must be done by government at all levels, if the nation must avoid a more deeper socio-economic crises.

Meanwhile, Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State had advised the leadership of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) to close ranks, and resolve the lingering issue of factionalisation, which he said was threatening the cohesion and unity of labour movement in the country.

Wike, while addressing his first Workers’ Day celebration since assuming office last May 2015, at the Yakubu Gowon Stadium, Port Harcourt, said the organized labour could have productive industrial relations in which the welfare and interest of workers are protected, under a united front.

Just like its national body, which is factionalised, the NLC in Rivers State is embroiled in factions, with each group claiming to be the authentic leadership.

Represented by his deputy, Ipalibo Harry Banigo, the Rivers governor assured the state’s workers that his administration was committed to provision of an enabling friendly environment for an excellent industrial harmony in the State.

He solicited for the workers’ understanding in the challenging task of rebuilding the State with the lean resources at its disposal.