NUPENG Protests Non-Payment of Benefits in Lagos

Chinazor Megbolu

In a bid to drive home their point, the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) protested over non-payment of terminal benefits to its members by General Electric.

The action which took place in Lagos on Monday morning saw the protesters paralysing business activities at the corporate headquarters of the organisation for

non settlement of terminal benefits of their ex-staff 4 years after.

The protesting NUPENG members were demanding for the protection of their rights after several years of failed promises of their former employer.

The affected workers led by the Chairman of Lagos Zone of NUPENG, Comrade Tayo Aboyeji and the Head of Zone, Comrade Lanre Badmus, decried the flagrant refusal of Arco Group, an employment contractor to General Electric to pay their severance packages that is long overdue.

It was gathered during the protest that General Electric and the recruiting firm, Arco Group had agreed to pay the workers their benefits within 7 days in December 2019 but derailed hence the protest.

According to them; “part of the resolution was that General Electric claimed it needed to reconcile excess withholding tax deductions of the affected staff from Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), giving assurances that as soon as that is done payment would commence”.