Sylvester Idowu in Warri 

Back-up staff of the Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company (WRPC) sustained their siege on the facility yesterday protesting alleged “workplace slavery” by the management.

The workers started their protests on Monday and have been sustaining their barricade of the entrance of the facility which entered fifth day.

Addressing the protesting workers, Lead Representative of the support workers, Dafe Ighomitedo, said the refusal of the management to respond to their plight might be a plot to “frustrate President Bola Tinubu’s transformative efforts of the refinery.”

Vowing that the protest would continue until the approval of better condition of service by top management of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited is done, he called on the the Group Chief Executive Officer, Engr. Bashir Ojulari, to prioritise and attend to their plight.

According to him, the WRPC management claimed to be waiting for approval from Abuja.

Ighomitedo maintained that they were resolute to continue the protest until the needful was done, emphasising their commitment to a peaceful protest.

However, he hinted that some persons may want to scuttle their action by instigating violence and urged the protesters to be on the alert and remain calm.

“This is the fourth day of this struggle for liberation from workplace slavery. Before now, we told them we were going to come out and cry out, but they gave deaf ears. We have been here since Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and today Friday. This is to show how determined we are.

“Management have called us and all they could say is that they are waiting for approval from Abuja. We are beginning to feel that there are some elements that don’t want this refinery to work.

“We are being forced to believe that there are some element that want to frustrate the transformative efforts of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

“Who will believe that our salaries in all these years have been peanuts. We are committed workers who have put in our youthful and useful lives in sustaining the refinery,” Ighomitedo said.

Lamenting the wide disparity between the salaries of the back-up and permanent staff, he said they would not leave the protest ground until they see what has been approved for them.

He urged the GCEO to, as part if his transformation agenda for the NNPC, “to transform these slave workers to well-meaning workers of this country.”

He also called on stakeholders and well-meaning Nigerians to add their voices to the struggle, to enable the refinery commence operations, adding “without this workforce here, no matter the billions of dollars they put in here, there would be no result.”