IBADAN, Nigeria (Dow Jones)--Leaders of Nigeria's oil workers' unions have decided not to
call their members out on a three-day warning strike Tuesday, one of the leaders said Tuesday.
"The strike has been suspended following talks with government," Elijah Okougbo, general
secretary of the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers, or NUPENG, said. "Four
committees have been set up to resolve issues raised by the unions."
He said the meeting with the government took place Monday in Abuja, the Nigerian capital.
Executives of NUPENG and its partner, the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of
Nigeria, or PENGASSAN, and the Trade Union Congress then met to consider the outcome.
The unions had demanded the government tackle the worsening security situation in the Niger
Delta, where armed militants have made oil operations difficult and put workers' lives are at risk.
Okougbo said other union demands include the cancelation of plans to deregulate the
industry's downstream sector, privatize the state-owned oil refineries and end subsidies on
domestic oil products.
The union also wants the government to reverse the appointment of Cobalt International
Services Ltd. as pre-shipment inspectors for Nigeria's 21 crude oil export terminals.