Catherwood LibraryILR School

In light of Nigeria’s already struggling petrol industry with the Niger Delta Avengers having bombed 12 oil pipelines and with ever-present national fears of a petroleum shortage, the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) began striking at the end of last week. While the government has claimed to try to set up various meetings between ministry and union leadership, the union claims that these meetings were inconclusive or never took place and are government tactics to characterize labor as unreasonable. Due to Nigeria’s reliance on joint venture agreements and the government’s inability to uphold their end of the deals, the country is billions of dollars in debt and this has led to loss of jobs and benefits for oil workers, making it a primary reason the PENGASSAN has declared a strike. Because of Nigeria’s already struggling economy and dependence on petroleum product exports, this strike could be detrimental to the country as a whole.