NUPENG suspends Strike scheduled to start Today ( Thursday).

The Nigerian Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers on Wednesday said it had suspended the nationwide strike that the union members was planning to start today, Thursday, 25th.
The Union's President, Mr. Achese Igwe, who made the announcement said the ongoing s trike in Abuja would however continue. The latest development came on the heels of an intervention by the Senate Committee on Petroleum (Downstream) in the ongoing face-off between NUPENG and the FG over the non-payment of subsidy claims to oil marketers.
NUPENG had on Monday threatened to embark on a nationwide strike on Thursday if the government did not to pay subsidy claims to marketers.
The union on Thursday last week started an industrial action in the Federal Capital Territory. The strike has led to fuel scarcity in the FCT.
The Chairman of the senate committee on Petroleum (Downstream), Senator Magnus Abe, told newsmen on Wednesday that the committee had met
with NUPENG and the Ministry of Finance on the matter with a view to finding a way out of the problem.
Explaining the Senate’s intervention, Abe said, “I have just finished speaking with the NUPENG President and it is clear there is no need for any strike. What is happening is a misunderstanding and we are trying to reach out so that we can find a solution to the problem.” According to him, the committee has also reached out to the Ministry of Finance and “the information was that 25 marketers have been paid their claims on subsidy.” “The Ministry of Finance has promised to pay all legitimate claims and the minister said that 25 companies had been paid. We have requested all the documents containing the list of the companies paid and what was paid so that we can clear the misunderstanding,” Abe said.
He also noted that the committee would not support any strike action by NUPENG as it would not address the problems facing the industry and Nigeria at the moment.
On whether the strike was a ploy to promote the call for total removal of subsidy, Abe said, “The issue of subsidy removal, I think there is a consensus that subsidy will go, but when and how is the issue. “I think there is no reason why anybody should use that to bring further hardship on Nigerians. The problem I think is a misunderstanding between NUPENG and the Ministry of
Finance.” Incidentally, Abe is chairing a Joint Committee of the Senate, which has carried out an investigation into the subsidy regime in the country but the committee has yet to submit its report to the Senate.
The Peoples Democratic Party on Wednesday described the NUPENG’s threat as unpatriotic. The PDP in a statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh, accused the union of sabotaging the efforts of the Federal Government to ensure transparency and accountability in the petroleum industry. The statement reads, “The PDP expressed dismay over the
decision by the NUPENG to embark on a nationwide strike over the non–payment of subsidy claims to the oil marketers, accusing the union of sabotaging the efforts of the Federal Government to ensure transparency and accountability in the petroleum industry. “The party also called on all Nigerians to give their tacit support to the Federal Government against a tiny cabal of oil marketers and their political collaborators who are bent on frustrating government good intentions and pave the way for the continued cornering of our commonwealth.
“The decision by NUPENG to embark on a nationwide strike over the decision by the Federal Government to stick to unimpeded transparency in the payment of subsidy claims is unpatriotic and barefaced insensitivity to the outcry of Nigerians over the rot in the oil industry as well as a clear inclination to use the pivotal position of the union to promote actions that are inimical to our economy.”
The party said that no sensible government would allow a policy in a vital economic sector to be dictated by those
who don’t have the interest of the nation at heart. It vowed that the PDP-led Government would never relent in fighting for the interest of the people, adding that Nigerians were greater than oil marketers and the bargain of NUPENG must not be allowed to appropriate the interests of the generality of the people who bore the brunt of shady transactions in the petroleum subsidy management.
The party asked NUPENG to tell Nigerians whose interest it was fighting whether it was that of the indicted oil marketers or that of the people of Nigeria. It also asked the union to say whether it was going on
strike on the premise of genuine national interest or on the promptings of the indicted oil cabal.
The party further asked, “Has NUPENG suddenly become a puppet whose string is being pulled by some economic saboteurs? “Why is it that the union who was in the vanguard of calls for sanity in the subsidy regime is now standing against government’s decision to ensure that transparency is taken to the letter? Is NUPENG running with the hare and chasing with the hound".