Employees from Nigeria's Department of Petroleum Resources have joined the ongoing strike by workers at the state-owned Nigerian National Petroleum Corp, prompting the parliament to summon the country's oil minister Diezani Alison-Madueke, union officials said Thursday.
"The workers at DPR and other NNPC subsidiaries on Wednesday joined the strike called by the unions at the NNPC headquarters. This is because the issues under dispute affect all the workers," an official of the Pengassan union said.
The strike for now is, however, restricted to the offices, refineries and depots owned by NNPC, officials said.
Union officials also said that the closure of NNPC offices including subsidiary Nigerian Gas Co,. resulted in the switching off of gas supply to the West African Gas Pipeline, which transports gas to neighboring Ghana, Togo and the Benin Republic.
Union officials said the shutdown of Nigeria's oil export terminals would be considered if talks with the NNPC management failed to address workers' demands, including adequate funding of the pension scheme.
The talks, which began on Wednesday, hit a deadlock, NNPC officials said.
Meanwhile, members of the House of Representatives have summoned Alison- Madueke along with NNPC CEO Joseph Dawha in connection with the oil workers' strike.
The parliamentary joint committees on petroleum resources -- upstream, downstream and gas -- in a statement late Wednesday expressed concern over the impact of the strike on Nigeria's economy.
"Alive to our constitutional responsibilities, the joint committee has decided to intervene in this matter with a view to resolving whatever the issues may be. Accordingly, we have invited the Minister of Petroleum Resources and the affected unions and relevant stakeholders in the sector to a meeting on Thursday," the statement said.
