National Telescope national telescope newspaper
By Paulinus Nta, A’IBOM
ExxonMobil Workers who were retrenched in 2012 and 2017 without severance benefits have lauded the directives of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, NUPRC ExxonMobil should settle outstanding debts owes their retrenched workers and other entittlements before it executes it’s planned $1.28 billion Assets to SEPLAT energy.
Spokesperson to the depressed group, Moses Ebong noted that the Federal government cannot afford to shoulder additional and unwarranted financial burden in the face of the current economic crises.
He lauded the CEO of NUPRC, Gbenga Kololafe for his patriotic stance, which according to him is aimed at salvaging the country from carrying another weighty financial load.
According to Kololafe, as qouted by Ebong, ”we don’t want our nation to carry unwarranted financial burden arising from the operators of assets overtime by the divesting entities”
Speaking further, Ebong said the retrenched workers, comprise of Janitol staff and unified catering workers had in 2023 embarked on a peaceful protest in ExxonMobil facility in Ibeno to press home their demand and we’re to carryout what he described as mother of all protests in the company’s operational base Eket and Ibeno. He said the planned protest was to have Human Rights Groups, Ibom Youths Liberation For Good Governance IYLFGG, Present and former student Leaders and other youth groups, but for the intervention of the police, who a meeting with the then Commissioner of police, through the commanding officer SID on Thursday, 25 the April with ExxonMobil on the issue of the retrenched workers and their severance benefits, but without any reasonable excuse, the multi National company boycotted the planned meeting.
He appealed in strong words to the NUPRC as a matter of urgency to compel ExxonMobil to pay the 2012/2017 laid off worker their severance benefits to avoid a possible break down of law and order.
