The Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige has reaffirmed the zero tolerance of the present administration of President Muhammadu Buhari to job losses in the oil and gas.
“We all know that the backbone of the Nigerian economy for now is still the oil and gas. As the Minister of Labour and Employment, I am committed to forestalling any issue that could bring industrial unrest in the sector or threaten job security in the country.”
“I wish to put on record that the Buhari administration has zero tolerance for any form of job loss. If the oil and gas sector or any other sector for that matter cannot create new jobs, they must go the extra mile to retain the existing ones. Any job loss has multiple adverse effects on the population. ”
“I have before me, petitions which border on industrial and employment relations – retrenchment, casualization, redundancy as well as unfair treatment of Nigerians in the employ of the oil majors. I have therefore summoned this meeting for us to properly ventilate the issues and make a way for a speedy resolution, after which we shall hold stakeholders’ summit,” Ngige said.
He said that concerning the expatriate quota, the Ministry was already in liaison with the Ministry of Interior and to check the abuse of the nation’s immigration/Labour laws and promised that the displacement of qualified Nigerians by foreigners would soon become a thing of the past.
The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Labour, Dr. Clement Iloh in his contribution regretted that the Oil and Gas Guidelines have become obsolete and should therefore be enhanced through the promulgation of a Ministerial Regulations so as to boost stability and sanity in the industry.
