A pipeline surveillance work group, the Ijaw, Itsekiri and Ilaje Community Pipeline Facilities Surveillance Programme Workers (CPFSPW), has given Chevron Nigeria Limited till April 19, 2024, to meet with its demands or experience a total shutdown of its operations in the creeks of Delta State.

The group issued the ultimatum to Chevron after rising from a recent meeting that was presided over by its chairman, Mr. Raymond Aderajor (Itsekiri); secretary, Mr. Daniel Diridumu (Ijaw), and Public Relations Officer, Mr. Dickson Aghorunse (Ilaje) wherein the workers adopted the resolution.

According to the Ijaw, Itsekiri, and Ilaje CPFSPW, they were moved to issue the ultimatum after series of letters written to Chevron on the disparity of salary payments between the pipeline surveillance workers and other staff in the company failed to produce expected results to their favour.

Giving more insights on the issue, the CPFSPW chairman, Mr. Aderajor said, "Our job is security. We are the ones securing all of Chevron’s facilities in Abiteye, Makaraba, Utunana, Dibi, Alero; we are the ones guarding all the pipelines.

"There was a certain time we protested against the company and we were told that Chevron wanted to carry out harmonization of workers. But after the harmonization, to our surprise, for the community surveillance workers they didn’t increase our salaries. However, those other workers who were receiving the same salaries with us had their pay increased.

"Then we wrote series of letters to Chevron, up to 10, nothing was done. In the month of March 2024, they sent some personnel to prevail on us that they will look into the issue. But after everything, Chevron came with just 10 per cent increment of our salaries which we are rejecting because it is not good enough.

"Those workers (in production) that we started the job together with and even before their arrival, and were on the same level of salary with us, they have increased their salaries up to N400,000k, N500,000k to N600,000k. We are receiving N120,000k to N115,000k per month. A bag of rice is N80,000k. If you take N80,000k out of N100,000k there is nothing left. The 10 percent increment is not enough," Mr. Aderajor hinted.

Asides the salary increment, the group lamented that there was no benefit from Chevron to the surveillance workers attached to the job despite the nature of the job which exposes their lives to danger, just as the workers also demanded for better work equipment to execute their jobs effectively.

"Chevron does not provide feeding, medical for us; we are the ones paying our transport from Warri down to the creeks. Currently, from Warri to Escravos, Abiteye is about N10,000k. Our demands are that Chevron should rate us together with those in production. In the same way they are paying those workers let them also pay us like that.

"Then, feeding, medical, transport that we were not benefitting from, let them also provide those benefits. Moreover, the boat that we use in the course of doing the job and to be effective, let them give us 200HP (Horse Power) with enough fuel and communication gadgets," he listed in their demands, while further warning that "If Chevron does not meet up to our demands, we will shut down their operations until they respond to us."

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