Tackling the ‘Casualization’ of Workers in the Petroleum Sector

Stakeholders in the oil and gas sector have once again called the attention of the federal government to the negative effect of casualisation in the petroleum sector and the need to find a lasting solution to the problem.
The National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) whose members are mostly affected by the menace had over the years fought vehemently to change the policy and had two weeks ago made a renewed call to the federal government to expedite action in the passage of the Anti-casualisation bill that is currently before the Senate.
Investigations carried out by Shipping Position Daily in Lagos last week revealed that many of the staff working in the indigenous and international oil companies, as well as those at some of the tank farms scattered around Lagos are casual workers.

A source told our correspondent at one of the tank farms in Lagos that some of the indigenous companies operating in the downstream as well as those multinational companies are still indulging in employing casual workers. He lamented that himself and many of his colleagues working for the companies are not yet permanent staff.

Some of the workers who interacted with our correspondent last week also alleged that the companies pay directly to some contractors who are blacks and are Nigerians; “they are the major problems here because they employ us as casuals and pay us less than 20 percent of what is actually being paid by the company”.
“If you are not related to them, you will be a casual forever and at the end of the day they will just extinct you from the industry, this is what we are facing” one of them lamented.
A petroleum consultant, Mr. Kenneth Uwaka in his opinion about the menace said that oil companies in Nigeria, especially the multinationals, usually pay their workers the equivalent of what they give to their counterparts in other countries, the problem according to him, stems from the use of middle men in the employment process.

“I want to assure you that the multinationals are actually paying them the way they pay their counterparts abroad, but the contractors handling these casuals collect this bulk money and pay the workers peanuts, they collect benefits on their behalf, but they will not allow the casuals to receive them”, he alleged.

“The workers are being treated as if they are not part of the oil industry, so the casualisation of workers should be stopped because they are the main workforce behind the multinationals; we have them in carpentry departments, welding departments and so on”.
Uwaka called for the immediate passage of the Anti-casualisation bill that is currently before the Senate saying that if the bill is passed into law, it will address the issue of casual workers, which according to him is being practiced by indigenous and multinational oil companies.

Also speaking with our correspondent on the issue, a petroleum marketer, Mr. Olanife Adeoye surmised that casualisation should be removed so that more people can be encouraged and know that they have something to fall back on.
“Once you are regarded as a casual worker, anytime there is a problem they just pay peanuts to your family in cases of deaths and so on, so the workers are not encouraged to put in their best and yet the industry is suffering”.
“So many people are not encouraged to apply, even when they apply, there is equally a problem, before they can make you a permanent staff, you must be a family of some of the people at the top, there is so much politics because the boardroom has been turned into a political arena where the Managing Directors want their stooges to take over from them” he said.