Support staff at the three Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) refineries – Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company (WRPC), Kaduna Refining and Petrochemical Company (KRPC) and Port Harcourt Refining Company (PHRC) – have intensified their peaceful protest over poor working conditions.
The workers are demanding better pay, benefits and implementation of a new salary structure, which they say has been delayed for more than a decade despite high inflation, the removal of fuel subsidy and repeated assurances from NNPCL management.
One protester at PHRC, who identified himself as Nnamdi Ekene, told our reporter Timothy:
“We are deprived of housing, transportation, meal, hazard and leave allowances, as well as medical benefits, pension and insurance cover.”
He said monthly earnings for support staff range from N90,000 to N165,000.
“In an oil and gas company that is the mainstay of the country’s economy!” he lamented.
The workers vowed to sustain the protest until their demands are met.
The industrial action, which began simultaneously across the three federal-government owned refineries on Monday, 5 October, has not waned but intensified.