There was disruption of work at the Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company Limited, SNEPCo, as workers in the early hours of Tuesday embarked on a protest, locking the gate to the firm’s office on Broad Street, Lagos.
The protest was coordinated by the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria, PENGASSAN. The workers accused the leadership of SNEPCo of practicing modern day slavery, discrimination in pay against Nigerian staff, and conscious bias in pay benchmarking in Nigeria.
The protest led to traffic snarl around the area as passersby paused to catch a glimpse. The protesting workers prevented complete access to the Shell building.
The protesters also barred entry of vehicles, including those of top officials of SNEPCo.
The protesters carried placards with different inscriptions that include; “Stop Modern Day Slavery, “Stop Indiscriminate Payment”, “No to conscious bias in pay benchmarking in Nigeria”.
They also faulted the policy of the firm in the application of global pay policy in Nigeria without consideration for local peculiarities, adding that it is “Best-in-Basin” with poor pay.
The Best-in-Basin is about cutting cost, which affects all operational issues, including attending conferences.
The workers made reference on the company not present at the Nigeria International Energy Summit, NIES, in Abuja in February 2026 as a sponsor, rather, it only sent delegates of about five persons instead of the about 40 persons that are accommodated as sponsors.
It also stated that organisers were only informed about the development about a week before the event.
Other local and International Oil Companies (IOC), including the Nigeria Liquefied and Natural Gas Company (NLNG), Total Nigeria, and Chevron Nigeria Limited (CNL), participated fully at the conference.
SNEPCo was also accused of giving the workers allowances that are not market reflective.
They cited car grants as an example.