Nigeria oil workers threaten strike

Fuel scarcity hit Nigeria`s capital, Abuja, as a trade union threatened strike over failure by the government to pay fuel subsidy claims.

Abuja: Nigeria`s oil workers grouped under the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers threatened to go a national strike to protest delays in subsidy payments to fuel importers and retailers.

Fuel scarcity hit Nigeria`s capital, Abuja, as a trade union threatened strike over failure by the government to pay fuel subsidy claims which has been subject of controversy and probe for sometimes now.

NUPENG, which controls the fuel distribution network in the country, claimed that the job of its 15,000 workers has been jeopardised because of the non-payment of the subsidy claim.

Nigeria produces crude but has to import refined products due to the absence of enough refineries within the country.

The country`s Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Finance Minister, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, a former contestant to the presidency of World Bank said a presidential committee was investigating many of the marketers therefore here ministry would not pay such companies.

"Some of the companies claimed payments for consignments brought in by ships which investigations revealed were either non-existence or were somewhere else in the world!" She said.

Nigeria which is Africa’s largest oil producer and a member of OPEC has witness lots of corruption in the oil sector which has forced presidency to make several changes in the leadership of the state controlled oil firm, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).

PTI

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