The nation may be heading for another round of fuel scarcity following plans by workers of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to embark on an industrial action if the management of the Corporation failed to heed their requests.
The workers are among other issues, requesting the management to broker an agreement with them on how it intends to adequately fund the in-house pension fund operated by the Corporation.
The development follows the withdrawal of the licence to operate the said in-house pension fund by the National Pension Commission (PenCom), LEADERSHIP has learnt.
It was learnt that as at December 31, 2012, the deficit in the pension scheme was N133.56 billion.
The workers which gave 12am midnight deadline to the management of NNPC are set to down tools starting from 1am midnight if the issue was not resolved by then.
A text message sent to journalists yesterday by the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) warned that the workers would down-tools if the 12am midnight deadline it gave to the management of the NNPC was not met.
Apart from requesting the NNPC management to furnish them with funding plans for the staff pension, the oil workers are also demanding the commencement of the planned Turn Around Maintenance (TAM) of the refineries as well as restoration of crude supply to the refineries.
“Demands are approval and adequate funding of the pension system, embarking on TAM of refineries and restoration of crude supply to refineries,” PENGASAN said in the text message
LEADERSHIP gathered that PenCom’s decision to withdraw the license of NNPC Pension Fund Limited was based on allegations that the company have overtime failed to meet up with extant requirements in its operation of the fund.
In the letter which was addressed to the group managing director of NNPC by the acting director-general of PenCom, Chinelo Anohu-Amazu, the commission stated its knowledge of NNPC’s unwillingness to comply with extant provisions in the Pension Reform Act (PRA) 2004.
It stated that it had in 2006 granted the NNPC temporary approval to operate the Pension Fund as a Close Pension Fund Administrator (CPFA), pending compliance of guidelines to be issued by the provision of the PRA 2004.
The letter dated September 8, 2014, also highlighted the conditions upon which the operational approval was granted to the NNPC, conditions it said the Corporation has failed to meet, consequently resulting in the withdrawal of the license.
In the letter, PenCom cited Section 50 (1) (g) of the PRA and clause (b) (i) of the approval conditions which provide that the scheme shall be fully funded at all times and that any shortfall shall be made up within 90 days.
The letter further stated that the “NNPC has breached this condition considering that the scheme has remained in deficits since inception in 2006.”
NNPC Reacts
The NNPC in a statement last night by its spokesman Ohi Alegbe, said that in a fresh directive dated 15 September, 2014, “PENCOM stated that the Commission had granted the NNPC a transition period of 12 months within which to ensure full compliance with the provisions of the PRA 2014.”
Consequently, the corporation appealed to the leadership of the industrial unions to exercise restraint while it embarks on extensive engagement with PENCOM to resolve the issues.
It noted that NNPC Pension Fund Limited has complied with the provisions of the PRA 2014, by transferring assets in equities, bonds, certificates of deposits and other marketable securities to the custody of Pension Funds Administrators (PFAs) for management as directed by PENCOM since 2006.
The corporation further called on members of the public to avoid panic buying over the strike action threat.