Shell workers raise alarm over underground plot to unjustly terminate their jobs, finger a supervisor
15 FEBRUARY 2023, WARRI – Contract workers with Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) Nigeria, have raised the alarm over what they described as intimidation, humiliation and unholy plot by a particular Shell supervisor to have their contract terminated by March 2023.
The embattled junior level inspectors in the marine assurance logistics section also accused the supervisor in question of planning to have them replaced with new contract staff believed to be from his state of origin, and therefore called on the management of SPDC to investigate and address the appalling situation.
This was made known in a statement signed by Inaibo Enneye Frednard, Lead-Auditor, Accident and Incident Investigator and Simon Gideiki, Lead-Auditor, and made available to GbaramatuVoice on Friday, February 3, 2023.
While narrating their ordeal, the workers explained that their present team lead is playing out a new script aimed at having them eased off their positions so that he can build his empire within the section.
The statement reads in part; “He is the Team-lead and none of us is disputing that but our pain right now is he has asked the Document Controllers/Planners to stop us from inspecting Inshore Tugboat and Barge that the Middle level and Senior Level Inspectors should be handling the Inspection. He engaged Middle and Senior Level Inspectors for carrying out Sea-going Vessel Inspection and JUB, paying them huge sums of money and now he has reduced them to doing INSHORE TUGBOATS and BARGES with the same huge sum (Salary).
“SHELL said we should SPEAK-OUT and SPEAK-UP. And that is what we are doing. We the Junior Level Inspectors, as he has Tagged us wish to know what this Middle and Senior Level Inspectors are doing differently, because none of them even have the same JUB Experience and know-how and even the JUB-Inspection has reduced Drastically that is why he (Team-lead) is pushing them asking the Document Controller/Planners to be detailing them to do our Junior Level Inspections paying us almost Nothing.”
Giving details, the workers emphasized that the Marine Assurance Logistics section was created some years ago and the first Contract Holder was Chris Maduka now retired as the Pioneer Contract Holder Marine Premob, noting that majority of them were employed 2011-July after a rigorous interview section with the then Head of Marine Logistics Operations (Jan Teerstra and Captain David Copeland) as a Marine Vessel Quality Assurance Inspector HMV, LMV and JUB and since then, they have been inspecting crew boats, ramp barges, cobral barges (fuel barges), flotel (houseboats), tugboats, anchor handling and line boats, work barges, under the leadership of Captain David Copeland and Tibiebiowei Zuofa as Team Lead.
Continuing, they stressed that “after about 4-5 years of our engagement we were asked not to continue the Inspection of Sea-going Vessels and JUB because we are yet to be OVID-ACCREDITED Inspector which we understood quite perfectly and all avenue to get this OVID- ACCREDITATION has become fruitless till date.
“So we have been limited to doing Inshore Vessel, Tug Boats lesser than GT-150T, Houseboats, Barges (Ramp, Dumb, Coral and Cobral) and Crew Boats (PC), Until our present boss Eteyen Oboho took over and from all indication playing out now it is Obvious Eteyen Oboho wants to do away with our services in the name of establishing his Own Empire. He has created/generated contracts bringing personnel’s and paying them huge sums of money, daily for doing the same Inspectionswe have been doing Categorizing them as Middle Level and Senior Level Inspectors and relegating us as Junior Level Inspectors. He told SPDC that these personnel (middle level and senior level) are to be doing Sea-going Vessels and JUB, while the junior level should be Strictly Inshore Tugboat, Barges and PC.
“SHELL has minimum Premob Practice Procedure as spelt out in MOPAG and that is what we have been using to carry out our Premob Inspection and even putting our Life at RISK with most of this Community Contractors and so on. SHELL is an excellent Organization to work irrespective of every other thing and we still love to continue our noble services.
“We are pleading with you to please come to our rescue and intervene because our team-lead (Eteyen Oboho) is making the team shocking and toxic for us the Junior Level Inspector and Document Controllers, leaving the Middle and Senior Level Inspectors out of the picture meanwhile they are the Issue here.
“We can speak-out and speak-up which is SHELL CREED. Inspection is a Specialist Job and even if we are engaged as competent, it still requires more training as per how SHELL wants it done, but No it is only when an INCIDENT occur or happen they want to gather people and be asking questions on INSPECTORS INTEGRITY without questioning who Authorized the Job to be carried out that lead to the Incident. There are good measures to bring Contractors, Equipment owners and Operation up to speed that have faded away,” the concluded.
Efforts to have Shell’s management speak on this issue proved abortive as they promised to get to the media organization but never did.
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