Date: 2016-07-24

The frequent attacks on oil pipelines by vandals have rendered many depots in the country incapacitated due to stoppage of pumping of petroleum products to them. Ahmed 'Lateef attended a recent National Executive Council meeting of the Independent Marketers' Branch of Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) in Ilorin where germane issues affecting the welfare of members were conscientiously discussed.

Just like vicious cycle, the incessant onslaught on oil installations has continued to manifest in all spheres of the economy and leave behind tale of sorrow for stakeholders in the oil sector. This time, it is not only the government that is feeling the hit owing to sharp drop in the daily production of crude oil, but others whose daily earnings tie to it.

Major oil facilities located in some geo-political zones had either ceased production or stop receiving finished products because of what is perceived as economic sabotage by vandals who go cap in hand to destroy the facilities and scoop the products.

The problem appears to have persisted too long without any practicable solution to mitigate the effect of the challenges on the economy.

Not long afterwards, militia groups also sprang up in the Niger Delta under different banners with daily attack on oil installations. Their devious activities did not include oil theft, which the government had alleged, was being perpetrated in the region.

Successive governments fought the battle and sometimes adopted dialogue with the militants to resolve the logjam because of economic implication on the side of the government.

Despite efforts made in the past to bring the attack on oil facilities to a permanent halt, the renewed hostility by a new militia known as Niger Delta Avengers has further plummeted oil production in the oil producing states as the group ceaselessly attack the facilities almost on daily basis.

The situation forced many oil companies to stop oil production to avoid lurking troubles.

While this has remained unpalatable experience for oil companies, depots across the country are also bearing the brunt as supplies to them also stopped abruptly.

This has therefore manifested in the activities of other allied bodies whose members perform oil business in the depots. Few depots in existence also carry out skeletal service to the utter dismay of the stakeholders.

Perturbed by the attendant consequence of the problem among others on their operation at the just concluded NEC meeting of IMB of NUPENG in Ilorin, the IMB unit chairman in Ilorin, Alhaji Balogun Tajudeen, regretted that the union had been embroiled in an unpleasant situation due to stoppage of loading of petroleum products at Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) depots in the system

He said similar problem also surfaced in other facilities of the corporation where skeletal operation was being done.

"I want to urge all of us to stand solidly behind our leaders. Let's tap them to every move that can bring fortune and peace the way of our branch. We should not forget that the fall of one is a total disgrace on all.

"This trying period in the life of our union, wehere all NNPC depots in the system 2B are out of loading activities, and many others in the remaining zones are doing a skeletal job, the onus is now on us to form an indefatigable entity behind our leaders.

"We should think of how to diversify our source of income to the branch. We should not be wasteful with our meagre resources. This period is a time of prudent reflection", Tajudeen said.

In the same vein, Lagos Zonal Council chairman IMB of NUPENG, Comrade A.M. Wahab, also lamented that the system 2 B depot had become malfunctioned thereby compounding the terrible situation members within the zone found themselves.

He also added that the union must take up challenges if it tent to grow.

He expressed displeasure that some government policies in the oil and gas sector have marred the growth and development of the union.

"Comrades, we can sincerely make a practical start for the sustenance of the growth and development of IMB. If you believe we have started moving on a right tract, we can move deeper with the love of IMB and make it a better union. We can all do it better and rightly too by standing as a team against all odds. We should live by the true context of solidarity as we imbibe the fact of injury to one is an injury to all

"Amazing it is when Benin Depot was not loading, I felt not concerned because I don't work in Benin depot. When Enugu depot was in a loading limbo for a decade and Gusau and Makurdi depots were a ghost of themselves, I was not concerned because Ejigbo depot is my unit.

"But now that the whole of System 2B is down of loading activities, I feel the pang! My colleagues, when will IMB demonstrate unity and togetherness in fighting a just and common course? Comrades, indeed we are moving but we are confusing or mistaking movement for action.

Where is our solidarity? Why are our elements of identity of interest, clarity of vision, honesty of intent and oneness of purpose not are not harnessed, or do they not exist? A man is a product of his thoughts. They say for what he thinks, he becomes. For us to grow we must take up challenges. We must think right and walk the talk.

"At our gatherings, we make speeches. Even at times, we make memorandum. But when the time comes to drive home our memorandum, we slumber. So, on a daily basis our challenges are getting pilled and complicated. It is a fact that our principals manage and sustain us through the margin of ex-depot price called drafts values and pump price.

"But of recent that the Federal Government doubled the drafts values and yet to widen the profit margin, our case has become a colossal damage as the existing margin had never accommodated a good condition of service for members.

"As if this is not sufficiently bad enough, we appear to lack the representation in policy process and have no presence in the corridor of decision making of our mother union. We have neither the facilities nor possibility to influence the conditions and decisions that affect us in any systematic manner. Who then says our age long struggle for members condition of services had not been nailed into coffin by this scenario?

"Not only do this government policy mar the growth and development IMB alone, some non-governmental issues abound as obstacles or how do we reconcile the threats of evictions by our sister union as an autonomous body in private depots and the continuous treatment as an outcast?

"We should move with the spirit of a down-to-heart unionist as a team towards the same direction", he said.

In his message at the NEC meeting, IMB National Chairman, Comrade Thompson Ogbodo, said the pivotal task of his leadership was to lift the union to the summit of greatness, saying the union would not allow exploit of creed and other divisive cleavages to tear it apart.

He noted that only in solidarity would the union attain great heights.

Ogbodo said it was expedient for both the leadership and followership to turn what he called "our vast human resources" into a force that leads to a virile union.

"Today, our unity is firm, our purpose is strong, our determination is unshakeable and together we will unite and improve the living standard of our members in all the zones.

"The decade of investment has begun. IMB can never be the same again, the march is on, the day of transformation begins yesterday. We will not allow anyone exploit differences in creed or tongue to set us against one another for in solidarity we shall attain greater heights.

"We must demonstrate the leadership statesmanship, vision, capacity and sacrifice to transform our union. We must strengthen common grounds, develop new areas of understanding and collaboration with solidarity and discipline, and seek fresh ideas that will enrich the consensus as the intellectual faculty.

"We must make a vow that, together, we will make the union thrive. The leadership and the followership must do their best to convert our vast human resources into a force that leads to a greater union in a disciplined atmosphere", IMB National Chairman said.

The commissioner for Commerce and Cooperatives in Kwara State, Mr Mohammed Ahmed Rifun, who also attended the event, called on the union to design a new template capable of promoting economy as well as making the oil sector peaceful without resorting to industrial unrest.

He also challenged the body to synergise with relevant other organisations in nipping destruction of oil pipelines in the bud.

Rifun said, "I want to implore you to come out with useful suggestions that can promote the economy of Nigeria and make the oil sector industrially peaceful without any resort to strike.

"There is a need for your union in collaboration with other stakeholders in the petroleum sector to advise the government on how to put an end to vandalisation of oil pipelines in the country and incessant destruction of pipelines by avengers in the Niger Delta area".