Ngige of derailed expatriate quota regulations __PENGASSAN
Sopuruchi Onwuka
The Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) has accused former Minister of Labour, Dr Chris Ngige, of conniving with foreign companies in the country to derail implementation of laws that were conceived to secure local jobs for Nigerians.
The group which is currently protesting alleged discriminatory employment and workplace practices at the operations of Sterling Oil Exploration & Energy Production Company (SEEPCO) Limited, a foreign independent oil producer in Nigeria, said many Nigerian government officials have been persuaded by foreign firms to make implementation of existing labour laws in the country difficult.
The association which is scheduled to meet with management of SEEPCO Limited under the watch of petroleum industry regulators in the week is irate at the seeming compromise of government officials on strict enforcement of laws protecting the right of Nigerian workers and their tacit inaction in protecting sundry opportunities conceived into laws to reduce the rate of unemployment in the country.
President of PENGASSAN, Comrade Festus Osifo, had during an interaction with journalists over the picketing of offices and field facilities of SEEPCO Limited called out Dr Chris Ngige as an example of ministers and highly placed government officials that betrayed the laws and regulations they were appointed to protect.
Comrade Festus Osifo (m) leads PENGASSAN executives during a picketing exercise on SEEPCO Limited in Lagos.
He said Dr Ngige churned out volumes of approvals that enabled foreign companies like SEEPCO Limited to import massive numbers of low skilled expatriate workers that were far less competent than unemployed Nigerian youths. He added that such approvals violated regulations and ignored the noble aspirations of government in reserving such jobs for Nigerian workers.
Comrade Osifo stated openly that the actions of government officials like Dr Ngige encouraged foreign companies to flout official regulations and established laws with great impunity. He pointed out that the management of SEEPCO Limited had boasted to protesting Nigeria workers that it would always have its way with people at the top despite their remonstration.
According to Comrade Osifo, diligent officials at the Ministry of Labour who were said to have tried to provide guidance to Dr Ngige on the guidelines and rates of expatriate quota approvals were switfly removed from their offices.
Comrade Osifo accused SEEPCO Limited of flooding its operations with over 10,000 low skilled Indian workers against the provisions of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development (NOGICD) Act 2010 which prescribes that no company operating in the petroleum industry would bring expatriates in positions and jobs where local capacity exists.
The Oracle Today reports that while the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) regulates implantation of the NOGICD Act 2010, the approvals for expatriate quota resides with the Ministry of Labour while the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) supervises entry of foreigners at border control points.
Thus, the implementation of expatriate quota and control of expatriate immigrants into the petroleum industry requires non-existent inter-agency collaboration across Ministry of Labour, NIS and NCDMB.
The lapses, according to Comrade Osifo, have led to gross violation of labour laws by foreign companies that import unskilled and low skilled labour from home countries to displace Nigerian workers. He noted that the imported workers are paid with Nigerian petroleum revenues while most Nigerian citizens roam the jobs market with little hope.
In the case of SEEPCO Limited, Comrade Osifo alleges, Indian personnel have taken over all conceivable job opportunities in the Nigerian operations of the company. He said Indians even serve as cooks, security guards, vehicle tire vulcanizers and communication officers.
He said SEEPCO Limited has paltry 1,500 Nigerians working with over 10,000 Indians in the Nigerian operations of the company. He accused Nigerian officials of complicity in the sabotage, citing the experience of PENGASSAN with Dr Ngige as a clear example.
