There has been unrest in Okopedi-Ete, Ikot Abasi Local Government of Akwa Ibom State, the operational base of Sterling Global Petroleum and Fertilizer Company, over the company’s alleged poor handling of safety and welfare issues.
Between last year and this week, the community and staff of the company have had reasons to protest against Sterling’s public relations related issues.
While the staff are complaining that the company treats them as slaves and care less about their welfare and safety related matters, the community is angry that Sterling is not dealing with them with any sense of human face.
Their drivers are said to be reckless and do not bother about the safety of the locals as they operate in the community. On Wednesday night, a fatal accident had occurred involving a truck believed to be owned by the company and claimed about four lives.
The incident forced the community on a rampage, damaging the company’s property and blocking the major road to prevent them from working.
While they took over the gate of the company, the company had issued a directive to their staff to stay at home until calm returned. The workers only returned to work on Friday, but were told to be observant in case the community youths decide to return for more attacks.
The skull and brain of some of the victims littered the main road on Thursday, the day that the community took to the streets to protest what they called the company’s drivers reckless driving.
During an earlier protest by the workers sometime last year, one of the youths had questioned the safety consciousness of the company and their workers. “The employees are not safety conscious because the employer and the management does (sic)not attach serious importance to health, safety and environmental management(HSE).
“They are reactive. They are not proactive. It is very, very risky and hazardous to allow the company drivers and operators to act as they like without proper check, supervision and discipline where the company’s safe work procedure is violated.
“Every unsafe act and unsafe condition should be adequately and effectively dealt with by the HSE officers, supervisors and the management. Without effective daily toolbox talks attendance and permit to w2ork, no employee should be allowed to work.
“Without putting on effective, functional and necessary Personal Protective Equipment, nobody should be allowed to enter the work site. In fact, any employee whose alcoholic test is above the permissible limit should not be allowed to work.
“If the HSE department and Management of the Company does not wake up, and take Health, Safety and Environmental Management as a critical part of the company, who knows what may befall them?”
Again, when news broke that a staff of the company was electrocuted in the course of his work in the company, another youth of the community described Sterling as an evil company.
“The real cause was far more grievous: he was welding inside a pool of water, with live electric cables running through the water. How could a company as large and reputable as Sterling act with such wickedness?
“It is confirmed that whenever it rains, workers are often forced to weld in the rain, disregarding safety regulations and the attendant risks.
“The victims are mostly indigene of Ikot Abasi and Eastern Obolo, yet nothing is being done about it. Instead, our traditional rulers and government officials keep negotiating with the company for money each time such incidents occur.”
TNN made efforts to reach the company on Friday, calling the advertised contact phone number on their website, but each time the call was made, it was rejected, without a return call.
We also sent an email to the email provided in the company’s website but as at the time of filing this report, no response came, even though the message had been delivered.
