The federal government on Monday, engaged the officials of the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) in a meeting as part of efforts to avert a planned strike.

The federal government delegation was led by the Minister of Labour and Employment, Muhammad Maigari Dingyadi, while NUPENG’s representatives were led by its President and General Secretary, Williams Akporeha, and Olawale Afolabi, respectively.

Naijaonpoint reports that the meeting, which was initially scheduled for 10:00 am on Monday, did not start until 5:22pm.

The meeting became necessary when the petroleum workers under NUPENG’s umbrella scheduled a strike over a dispute with the Dangote Group.

The dispute borders on the company’s policy against allowing its employees to join trade unions, with NUPENG insisting that no oil worker will work with Dangote group without being unionised.

Speaking before the Monday meeting at the headquarters of the Labour and Employment Ministry went into a closed-door session, Dingyadi appealed to all stakeholders to embrace peace.

He expressed confidence that all issues would be resolved amicably, adding that the oil industry is critical to the operation and survival of the entire economy.

He said, “We are here to try and reconciliate our labour unions in the oil industry and the employers in Dangote Group. This is not the first time we are having this kind of dispute.

“We believe that by the time we sit down with parties involved, we should be able to settle them, we should be able to resolve the issues within the limits of what is possible.

“We believe that the gentlemen who are here with today will assist us because I can see the level of commitment in them to see that we resolve these issues.

“We want to appeal to all parties concerned to this meeting to please try to be peaceful, to please try to be as accommodating as possible so that it’s only when we are able to accommodate each others views that we can reach an agreement.

“What we are discussing today is very important to the peace and stability of the country and our economy. The oil industry is not a sector that we will play with and it is very important for the government of our country and our people.

“Please, I want to appeal to all of us to try as much as possible to have a listening ear and ready to contribute to deliberation on this matter.”