Nigerian oil workers shelve proposed strike

LAGOS, March 24 -- The strike planned for Wednesday by oil workers in Nigeria has been called off after the two sector unions reached an accord with the Nigerian federal government over the controversial deregulation of the downstream sector in Abuja on Monday.

Peter Akpatason, President of National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas, who addressed the press after a prolonged meeting with top government officials, said Labor would sign a communiqu¨¦ with the government on Tuesday on how to implement the deregulation policy.

This came after the labor unions had been incorporated into some committees set up to implement the deregulation policy and security strategies in the Niger Delta.

According to the Punch newspaper Tuesday, the Monday meeting, which was chaired by the National Security Adviser Sarki Mukhtar, was called to avert the proposed industrial action by the oil workers over the government's planned deregulation of the downstream oil sector and the increasing insecurity in the Niger Delta region, among other key issues.

Speaking to journalists on Monday, the governor of southeast Nigeria's Edo State Adams Oshiomhole said there was no industry to deregulate, adding that the government shut out marketers who are extorting Nigeria out of business and bring in an auditor to verify the claim on Petroleum Trust Development Funds.

He stated that there are about four companies extorting the country while the government subsidized, adding that the four companies should be probed.