The Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) has issued a strong statement distancing itself from a group posing as an association of oil and gas transporters and marketers.
The union declared that this group lacks legal recognition, describing its members as individuals exploiting unsuspecting Nigerians under false pretenses.
In a statement issued in Port Harcourt on Monday, NUPENG's National President, Williams Akporeha, and Secretary General, Afolabi Olawale, clarified the union’s stance on the matter.
“The attention of the leadership of our great Union has been drawn to some advertisements on news media of some unscrupulous and dangerous individuals claiming to be members of one amorphous association they claim is both Transporters and Marketers of the Oil and Gas at the same time,” the statement read.
“And we wish to state that this association is nothing but an assemblage of failed Rent Seekers in the Subsidy Regime and Irredeemable Smugglers of Petroleum Products disguised as businessmen and women.”
The union leaders cautioned the public and government bodies to avoid dealings with this group, emphasizing that its members are seeking alternative means to exploit Nigerians.
"The general public and government institutions are hereby warned and strongly advised to be very wary of these individuals who are desperately seeking ways and means to continue to exploit Nigerians and collecting rents in other manners since the current administration removed subsidy from petroleum products and made smuggling unprofitable for them."
NUPENG went on to outline the legally recognized bodies within Nigeria’s oil and gas sector. "The leadership of our great Union recognizes the National Association of Road Transport Owners as the legitimate umbrella body of Transporters in the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry and Employers of Petroleum Tankers Drivers of which our Union has a Collective Bargaining Agreement on behalf of Petroleum Tankers Drivers,” the statement continued.
NUPENG also acknowledged the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, Major Energy Marketers Association of Nigeria, and Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association of Nigeria as legitimate organizations within the industry’s downstream sector.
Furthermore, NUPENG clarified that Nigerian labor laws recognize only two unions for oil and gas workers: NUPENG and the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria.
"These are the two organizations that represent and protect the job interests of the Nigerian oil and gas workers, including Petroleum Tanker Drivers, as prescribed in the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria."
In conclusion, NUPENG urged both private individuals and public officials to avoid any affiliation with the illegitimate group, stressing, “We implore all well-meaning Nigerians and government officials whose names these usurpers and rent seekers are dropping to urgently disregard any invitation from them and publicly denounce them because they are purely mischief-makers, names droppers, and unscrupulous business individuals that can sell their families and country for money and are unfortunately part of those that plunge the country into the current economic woes and hardship that the country is currently battling and struggling with.”
