NNPC crisis shows Nigerians are resistant to change

New NNPC GMD Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu

Kachikwu made the announcement on Tuesday, March 8, and the Nigerian Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) and the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) decided on the strike the same day.

Oil workers in Nigeria, on Wednesday, March 9, 2016, shut down all the facilities of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) following an announcement by Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Ibe Kachikwu that the company will be split into independent units.

According to the unions, they were upset because the minister didn’t carry them along in making the decision.

“We do not accept any unilateral and arbitrary restructuring. The minister cannot restructure NNPC without carrying all stakeholders along. The minister cannot run the industry as a private estate. He must carry all Nigerians along,” a spokesman for PENGASSAN, Lumumba Okugbawa told Premium Times.

“With such a massive decision-making, a lot of things would be affected, particularly its implication on workers interest. We are unaware of what is happening. It is not fair that the workers are hearing about the restructuring in the media just like every other person. He is just creating unnecessary confusion in the polity,” he added.

However, despite the fact that Mr Okugbawa claims to be acting in the interest of all Nigerians, the strike was in fact a selfish act meant to secure the unions’ interests and no one else’s.

This is because the action has worsened the fuel shortage in the country and thrown Nigerians into even more misery.

As John F. Kennedy said, “Change is the law of life and those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.”

May the Nigeria of the future be better than the Nigeria of the past and that of the present. God bless Nigeria.

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