Agip Retirees Protest Denial of Pension Rights, Others
•We’ve Lost Over 100 Members, Pensioners Lament
From MAUREEN DICK, Port Harcourt
On Thursday, May 23, 2024, former staff members of the Italian Nigerian Agip Oil Company (NAOC) staged a peaceful protest to the company demanding their entitlements.
The senior citizens, who said they spent their youthful years in working for the growth of the company lamented that their members are daily dieing possible hardship resulting from abandonment by the company.
As early as 6:30am on that Thursday, many of the elder statesmen had converged at the main entrance of the company with their walking stick aided by their children and grandchildren.
To maintain their peaceful disposition, they paved way for workers to drive inside the company’s premises, but sat down under scorching sun for several hours.
It was gathered that more 700 retirees of Agip company, who put in between 30 to 35 years of meritorious service, fall into the category of pensioners demanding for their rights.
The five major things the pensioners having been demanding for several years were: periodic increase in pension to meet the present economic challenges and increase in minimum wage that is now worthless.
Others included: reinstate late retirees’ spouses who are denied medicare; provision of palliatives because of the jump in cost of living and industry practice of increasing pay to retirees as done to serving staff.
Some of the inscriptions on their placards read: ‘Spouses of retirees are denied medical treatment unlike other oil companies’, ‘No pension increase since 2009, and no welfare plan in place’, ‘Agip pension has lost its value in today’s economy: no review as obtainable in other oil companies.’
Other inscriptions on their placards were: ‘Our years of meritorious services deserve better treatments’, ‘We demand for a living pension: stop killing the geese that laid the golden eggs’, ‘Agip Management, increase our pension like other oil companies’ and ‘Agip, give your retirees palliatives like other oil companies’.
Lamenting their ordeals in the last 15 years, members of Agip Pension Association (APA) lamented that since they retired from active service, the multinational oil company has not increased their minimum wage.
They frown at the company for not keeping to terms and and conditions in their contractual job engagement.
PentoksNews gathered that most of the retirees, who were at the demonstration were those with health stability. Some who could not participate were either in hospitals or frail to withstand several hours of the agitation.
According to the senior citizens, they have an alarming number of over 100 of their members who had passed on.
They attributed the statistics to depression, hardship occasioned by the harsh economy in the country.
The current chairman of the Agip Pensioners Association (APA), Elder Sito Paul, said they had been interacting with the company’s management over the lingering issues.
Paul stated: “But, the management has been so nonchalant to most of our demands industry-wise. We have in the oil industry made up of five major oil companies. They include Shell, Chevron, Mobil, Agip and Total Energy. These are the five major oil companies in Nigeria. And they do things similarly.
“We have a national body that meets quarterly every year. And we just finished the meeting yesterday (May 22, 2024). What we do is to compare notes. We have compared noted with these other four companies and we found out the we (Agip retirees) are no where.
“It has been so for a while and we contacted our management and told them what is happening in other oil industries. You have not done it. Why is it so?
“Their (Agip Management) promise has always been positive for over three years. Let me tell you that right now, as we are talking, some people who were assistant managers, what they are name now is N150,000 minimum wage. Imagine somebody that retired from the oil industry.
“Oil industries sell their crude in dollars, which means what they are paying is not up to $10.
“We are dying. If they tell you statistics of death now you would be amazed. Death is increasing because the retirees cannot measure up with the economy.
“Worse still, when we are old and die, the agreement has been that our spouses should continue with the medical care. But, the management has unilaterally changed. We don’t know where that came from. This is an opportunity for life. They drive our spouses away from coming to take medical care.
“All the palliatives that other oil companies gave their retirees, Agip did not give us. You know the jump in cost of living. The company didn’t give us anything. And they have been saying “we will do something”. But, nothing has been done.
Elder Paul continued that they staged the protest to tell the management that there would be an end to the “we will do something” promises.
“We came here because we want to see the end of that promise, ‘We will do something’.”
The chairman disclosed that the association has lost more than 100 members, adding that between 2023 and 2024, they have lost more than 20 persons.
He said: “Last year (2023) was so bad and our members are still dying. You know one of the reason people are discouraging us from coming out to protest, is to prevent casualty. They feel someone might slump and die. That’s the fear of the management.”
Paul noted that in 2023, his predecessor died because of depression from unwillingness of the firm to attend to their needs.
He said: “I don’t want to die so depressed like the former chairman, who died last year, when all his efforts to see the demands of the pensioners were not attended to.
“We will not leave here. We will remain under the sun until the management talks to us. The exco would be meeting with the management by 10am today. If at the end of the meeting nothing meaningful is achieved, we will remain here. Let security operatives here shoot us. We will remain here.”
Also, the Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the association, Chief Alex Onyekwe, Messrs Theophilus Obiene (former Chairman of PENGASSAN), Mr. Johnson Obarie and Chief Godfrey Elenwo collaborated with the views of the APA chairman.
The association appealed to Agip management to attend to all the ares they have complained about, saying if nothing is done within a stipulated time, they would block entrance into the company in their next protest.
Outcome Of Meeting
Meanwhile, it was learnt that the meeting between APA exco members and Agip management held as scheduled.
According to Chief Onyekwe, PRO of the association, the interaction was through zoom meeting. The management was represented by Ighojovbe Ogenekaro, General Manager, Human Resources and Organisations, Nigerian Agip Oil Company Limited, Abuja.
Onyekwe said the management promised to look into their demands and give them feedback, while the association has given Agip till July, 2024, to respond to their agitations.
Ends.