Opeoluwani Akintayo
21 November 2017, Sweetcrude, Lagos – The Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Association of Nigeria, PENGASSAN, is planning to picket some offices of Fugro Nigeria Limited over refusal to pay members of the association who were sacked by the company.
Fugro N.V. is a Dutch multinational public company headquartered in Leidschendam, Netherlands, that provides geotechnical, survey, subsea and geoscience services for clients, typically oil and gas, telecommunications cable and infrastructure companies.
A source close to the situation, hinted SweetcrudeReports that the decision to storm some of Fugro’s offices in protest, soon, was taken during the last meeting of PENGASSAN’s National Executive Council, NEC, in Akwa Ibom State.
This newspaper learnt that the branches to be picketed are those in Lagos, Warri and Abuja.
“As we speak, plans are already ongoing to stage protests at those branches of the company. Some of those unexpectedly laid off are yet to get something tangible doing and we can’t just leave them helpless,” the source said.
He also revealed that the sacked PENGASSAN members were yet to be paid all outstanding remunerations since May 2016 till date.
After several failed attempts to get the company to yield to the plight of the sacked workers, the association is also making plans to take the matter to the Dutch Embassy in Nigeria.
Fugro’s revenue declined by 20.4% in the third quarter 2016 due to the oil and gas downturn to 474.1 million Euros – down from 610.9 million Euros for the same period in 2015.
The company said the drop was the third consecutive year of an exceptionally deep downturn in the oil and gas services market, forcing a restructuring. As at October 2016, 1,577 employees were already laid off globally, followed by the company’s active fleet reduced by over 5 vessels.
