By Chinedu Echianu
The newly elected President of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), Comrade Bosun Olabiyi-Agoro, has vowed to tackle contract staffing and casualisation in the oil and gas industry, describing the practice as an emerging menace threatening workers’ welfare, safety and job security.
Olabiyi-Agoro made the pledge on Saturday in Abuja while delivering his acceptance speech after his election at the 1st Quadrennial National Delegate Conference of PENGASSAN which held in Abuja.
He said the new leadership would interrogate the growing use of contract staffing and casualisation, stressing that workers who had remained in supposedly temporary positions for several years could no longer reasonably be classified as temporary employees.
“We are not averse to contract staffing, but it must be practised the way it is done everywhere in the world,” he said.
According to him, “a job that someone has been doing for over two years, five years, 10 years, even 20 years or more cannot be categorised as a temporary position anymore.”
He warned that the era when contract staffing could be used to marginalise workers, undermine their welfare or cut costs at their expense was over.
“This is becoming a health and safety matter in our various locations and offices, and we will interrogate this matter with every resource available to us,” he said.
The new PENGASSAN president also pledged to protect jobs amid divestments, business reorganisation, automation and the transition to cleaner energy.
He said the association would negotiate for just transition agreements, retraining and redeployment of affected workers, while making safety, welfare and dignity of members non-negotiable.
Olabiyi-Agoro further pledged to defend Collective Bargaining Agreements (CBAs), strengthen industrial relations and ensure that agreements reached between workers and management were respected.
“Agreements signed must be agreements kept,” he said, adding that PENGASSAN would work with management as partners while resisting injustice “peacefully, lawfully and powerfully.”
He also promised greater investment in digital skills, leadership training and mentorship, as well as stronger participation of women and young professionals in decision-making within the association.
On internal administration, the PENGASSAN president pledged to promote internal democracy, financial transparency and stronger support for branches.
He called for unity among members, saying the new leadership would reach out to aggrieved members and build on the efforts of the immediate past administration to foster cohesion within the union.
Olabiyi-Agoro paid tribute to his predecessor, Comrade Festus Osifo, who led PENGASSAN from 2020 to 2026, describing him as a “leader, builder and fighter.”
He said Osifo’s administration strengthened PENGASSAN, defended jobs during divestments, fought for improved collective bargaining agreements and gave the association a stronger voice in government and national affairs.
“Your legacy is our foundation, and we will carefully and consciously build upon it to the benefit of our members, Nigerian workers and the country at large,” he said.
