PENGASSAN Says No Third Term for Nigeria’s President

PENGASSAN, ICEM’s white-collar oil workers’ affiliate in Nigeria, insisted that the government agency charged with product pricing and regulation reverse current petroleum prices in line with the recent decreases to international oil prices.

Meeting at its National Executive Council last week in Benin City in conjunction with a workshop on “Labour and Challenges of Reforms in Oil and Gas Sectors,” the President of the union, Uche Okoro, said it was time longstanding disputes over excessive use of expatriate and contract workers be met with firm action.

PENGASSAN’s President also expressed outrage at a campaign by the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria to alter the country’s constitution to allow President Olusegun Obasanjo to stand for a third four-term term in 2007. “PENGASSAN suffered untold hardships and persecution in the struggle to bring about this democracy,” said Okoro. “We will not watch people abort it because of selfish interest. The first step to protecting democracy is to respect the constitution. There is no such provision as a third term in the constitution.”