By SouthernVoicenews
Operations and oil activities of the NPDC at the Erhiemu Pigging manifold in Ughelli North Local Government Area of Delta State, on Thursday, April 13, 2023 suffers major set backs as workers of Mormar Marines Ltd, a pipeline surveillance firm in the Oil Mining Lease OML 3O, shut down oil installations over the non payment of six months salaries owed workers.
The workers who converged carrying placards bearing different inscriptions such as “NPDC stop this divide and rule”, “We are comfortable working with Mormar Marines”, “You cannot owe us and disengage us”, among others disclosed to newsmen that NPDC as a company have allegedly concluded plans to terminate their jobs by revoking the contract from their contracting firm, Momar Marines Ltd.
The angry workers accused NPDC for failing to make adequate arrangements to pay the six months outstanding salaries owed the workers before attempting to lay them off.
Addressing newsmen during the protest at the Pigging Manifold of OML 30 operated by the joint venture partners, NPDC, Heritage and Shoreline, a Coordinator in Mormar Marines Ltd, Comrade Lucky Ofomukoro said; they had been on protest at the manifold since Wednesday last week to register their grievance but that it is so annoying that till the moment, no positive response has been given by NPDC.
Adding that, in December 2022, the management of Mormar Marines Ltd, called all workers for a meeting where they inform them that their job has been terminated. Ofomukoro further revealed that it was resolved that if they no longer need their services, they have to quit, and also did a protest to the company demanding their salaries before laying them off.
He noted that after the protest, the management of the company called for a meeting and the workers told them to extend the job, but they asked them to go back to their duties which they did.
According to him, “At the end of March, they promised that there will be order to extend the work, but to our greatest surprise, they called to inform us that the work has been terminated. We came back here since last week telling them to pay our salaries, but till this moment, nobody from NPDC, Heritage or Shoreline has come; they just left us to our fate.
“We do not have power to damage the facilities, the only power we have is to shut down the facilities and that is what we have done”.
Another Coordinator, Mr. Paul Agbama, lamented the “marginalization and oppression meted on the surveillance workers. We have been on this job for many years but recently, our salaries are not coming regularly which is not fair.
“We have decided to shut down so that they will call us and pay our salaries.”