•Management: Concerned staff paid all entitlements
NIGERIA LNG Limited, the nation’s foremost liquefied natural gas
producer, just fresh from a battle with the Nigerian Maritime
Administration and Safety Agency,
(NIMASA) is locked in another disagreement with some staff over the
payment of $100million severance package, The Nation can authoritatively
report.
At issue is that the board met in London on July 19 and
ratified the payment of $100million as severance package to retiring
staff with the planned implementation of the exercise in phases up till
September. But the management overruled the board by reneging on the
agreed payments as well as issued a 7-day ejection notice requesting
affected staff to leave the company by Wednesday, July 31st.
Confirming this development, a source in NLNG who would not be named
because he is not authorised to speak with the press confided in The
Nation that the staff and management of the company have squared up as
result of the refusal of the former to honour the agreement.
Giving
insight on how the agreement was struck, the source recalled that “Two
years ago before the NLNG moved its headquarters to Port Harcourt, the
management had expressed its willingness to implement a voluntary
severance scheme for staff willing to go on retirement. However,
following the release of the guideline for the scheme in February this
year, 60 persons met the condition and their names were sent to the
board for consideration. The board met in London and approved
$100million as budget expense for the severance package and also gave
September 30th for the full implementation of the exercise in phases.
“But contrary to the board’s approval, the management issued a circular
last week that concerned staff have up till July 31st to leave the
company without regard for procedure.
“Nobody has been paid. What
they did was to compute what is due to the staff based on the guidelines
after deducting some money from staff who got the company to guarantee
loans and other stuff. What I know is that by Monday the affected staff
are expected to have tendered their application and possibly get paid on
Tuesday and await final ejection on Wednesday.”
Shedding light on
what the company policy states prior to any disengagement exercise, the
source said: “When a staff is being disengaged he or she is expected to
go through an exit interview and possible succession plan. But in this
case there was nothing of the sort. Rather what we have seen is that the
company is in a hurry to discard the affected staff because of the
money it has paid NIMASA. It is trying to cut cost at the expense of
procedures.”
NLNG reportedly lost about $525 million as a result of
the dispute with NIMASA. It subsequently agreed to pay $140 million in
disputed levies to NIMASA, to end the three-week blockade of shipments
from its export terminal.
According to sources, the average age of
affected staff is 45 years, most of who have put in between 15 and 17
years in service work at the Plant and Shipping Department and are
resident in Bonny Island. “The affected staff built the plant from the
scratch when it was just a mangrove swamp and is it an irony of fate
that the same staff who have left a legacy of meritorious service over
the years are being antagonised by a recalcitrant management who are not
ready to pay them their dues and emoluments.”
The source said the
affected staff are prepared to take the management to court in order to
exercise their legal rights. But Dr. Kudo Eresia-Eke, General Manager,
External Relations, NLNG, debunked claims that there was crisis over
severance package.
“It’s a non issue. The issue is that staff wanted
to go. I can tell you that every staff who volunteered to go have all
their entitlements worked out for which many of them were grateful. I
spoke to many of them over the weekend and they said they were very
grateful. It is not even fair on the affected staff to say that they got
millions because doing that has serious security risk. They even
commended the company for honouring the agreement with fidelity despite
spending so much on the NIMASA case.”
He added, “What the company
said is that you can go as early as 31st July 27, 2013. July 31st date
is not sacrosanct. Those on exigencies of duty can stay longer. Most
staff by the way do not have houses provided by the company. What is
certain is that for staff who have any outstanding issue to resolve or
has work schedules to complete can liaise with their supervisors who can
make case for extension up to a few weeks or even months.”
NLNG is
owned by four shareholders, namely, the Federal Government of Nigeria,
represented by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC (49%),
Shell Gas BV (25.6%), Total LNG Nigeria Limited (15%), and Eni
International (N.A,) N. V. S. a. r. l (10.4%).
Source: The Nation
