Read this article in:
5 May, 2008
Babatunde Ogun, a 17-year member of Nigeria’s senior staff association PENGASSAN, was elected president of the union on 30 April for a three-year term. His election and the elections of several others occurred at the white-collar union’s Second Triennial Delegates’ Conference in Abuja that was attended by 470 branch and zonal leaders.
The two-day conference featured a sharp exchange on the opening day, 29 April, between Minister of Labour and Productivity Dr Hassan Lawal and fiery Adams Oshiomhole, the former president of the Nigeria Labour Congress, who is governor-in-waiting in Edo State.
PENGASSAN members at May Day rally in Abuja
Oshiomhole, who was duly elected a year ago but awaits taking office in Edo due to a legal challenge by the former incumbent governor, called on PENGASSAN to extract no more crude oil at US$120-per-barrel “if the proceeds are to be shared by irresponsible political leadership. That will not be patriotic,” he said. Oshiomhole was referring to alleged corrupt practices of former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo.
Following the reading of a prepared text from current President Umaru MusaYar’Adua by Lawal, the Labour Minister took exception with Oshiomhole’s comments. He stated that such a call “was out of place, especially since Comrade Oshiomhole has acknowledged the good works President Yar’Adua is doing, especially trying to right some of the wrongs of the immediate past government.”
Lawal added that if the country’s oil workers stopped drilling, the government would take it upon itself to contract such drilling with outside providers. Labour Minister Lawal also remarked on the PENGASSAN upstream strike against Mobil Producing Nigeria, and his efforts to resolve the strike by 1,400 trade union members. He called Mobil’s two-year wage offer of 10% “totally unfair and unacceptable.”
PENGASSAN did present a series of constitutional amendments to delegates, including a new fees formula between the National Secretariat and branches, but due to a logistical glitch, the amendments were not acted upon. Delegates also heard from Dr Muhammad Auwal Umar of Bayero University in Kano, who delivered a stirring address on why labour unions must reposition themselves for a greater role in civil society.
Babatunde Ogun won election to the union’s top over two other candidates, including incumbent Peter Esele. A mechanical engineer who has been employed by Mobil Producing at the Qua Iboe crude export terminal in Eket, Ogun state, for the past 12 years, Comrade Ogun was Deputy President three years ago when he challenged Uche Okoro for the presidency. He lost in that election, held early in 2005, and Esele, elected then as Deputy Vice President, became PENGASSAN’s president when Comrade Okoro was killed in an airplane crash on 10 December 2005 near Port Harcourt.
“Our oil and gas policies have to have input in the marketplace,” said the 42-year-old Ogun, following his election. “We must close the gap between government and business on the one hand, and labour on the other. We must also close the gap globally in order that multinationals utilise Nigerians and local content in their operations.”
Re-elected Deputy Vice President was Mustapha Nuhu Wali. The union also elected its first Woman in PENGASSAN, which now is an elected position on the Central Works Committee. That post was won by Orji I. Rose of Chevron Nigeria Ltd. Elected Treasurer was O. Uka Ethelbert, and elected Industrial Relations Officer was Steve Ereyukomhen.
PENGASSAN, an ICEM affiliate numbering 6,000 members, is composed of four zonal offices and some 80 branches, each representing a company segment of Nigeria’s oil and gas industry.