Mele Kyari calls for support from PENGASSAN, NUPENG 

ABUJA, Nigeria – The Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Mallam Mele Kyari, has called on the oil and gas industry unions, the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) and the Nigerian Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), to support his management’s vision to reposition the corporation.

The GMD made the call during a visit of the national leadership of PENGASSAN and NUPENG to the NNPC Towers, Abuja, on yesterday. A press release by the corporation’s Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, Mr. Ndu Ughamadu, stated that the corporation needed every support it could get from all quarters to be able to continue to play its role as a key enabler of the nation’s economy. 

Mele Kyari stated that for the corporation to achieve greater success in impacting the lives of citizens positively, there was need for everybody to commit to its ownership and proffer solutions to the challenges facing the industry.

“The window to this country is the petroleum industry. Anywhere you go in the world, the first question they will ask you as a Nigerian is on the oil and gas industry. And the window to the oil and gas industry is NNPC, so we must all join hands to make NNPC work”, he said.

On the refineries, he stated that the corporation was committed to their full rehabilitation with a view to bringing them to produce at optimal capacity, adding that there was no room for excuses.

Speaking earlier, the President of PENGASSAN, Comrade Ndukaku Ohaeri, urged the management to look at the possibility of adopting the NLNG business model for the refineries in order to ensure that they operate profitably on a sustainable basis.  

He commended the NNPC leadership for supporting the union in capacity building which has paid off in the quality of engagement and sustenance of industrial harmony in the oil and gas sector.

Speaking in similar vein, the President NUPENG, Comrade William Akporeha, commended the management of NNPC for its timely intervention in the disputes between the union and International Oil Companies (IOCs) which has helped a great deal in averting crisis in the industry.

He called on the GMD to equally wade into the persisting casualization of Nigerians by the foreign companies.