The Group Managing Director (GMD), NNPC, Dr Maikanti Baru, has urged oil workers to halt their planned strike over a labour dispute involving Chevron Nigeria Limited (CNL) management and the staff.

The unions are National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) and the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN).

Baru made the appeal in a statement by NNPC’s Group Public Affairs Manager, Mr. Ndu Ughamadu, in Abuja on Sunday.

The GMD, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, said he had directed the management to work with other stakeholders to resolve the issues raised by the leadership of the unions.

He appealed to the unions not to do anything that would disrupt the industrial harmony that had pervaded the sector.

The group managing director expressed fears that the gains of the recent past in the sector, if care was not taken, could be frittered away inadvertently.

He, however, expressed optimism that the current dispute would be settled amicably.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that the unions had recently called on the National Assembly to intervene in the brewing impasse between CNL and its staff in Nigeria

The unions further urged the Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources, the NNPC and the Department of State Services (DSS) to also intervene.

The disagreements borders on the company’s disclosure that the contracts with all its manpower services providers would expire by the end of October, 2018.

Consequently, NUPENG and PENGASSAN, last week Wednesday, put their members on red alert.

Meanwhile, the NNPC has allayed concerns of petroleum product consumers over possible hiccups in supply in parts of the country due to the workers’ ultimatum.

It gave the assurance that the corporation had adequate storage of petroleum products across the country to take care of the national demand. (NAN)