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The Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), and Labour unions in Nigeria's oil sector have called off their strike with immediate effect.

The decision to call off the action was arrived at the end of a long-hour meeting with the Minister of state for Petroleum Resources, Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu, who promised to address their grievances.

The unions had embarked on strike following the misinterpretation of the unbundling of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).

Kachikwu assured them that there was no unbundling of NNPC, stressing that, what was happening was a restructuring.

Oil workers feared that many of them would be sacked if NNPC was unbundled and they immediately resorted to a strike, but they have been reassured that their jobs are safe at least for now.

The unions had shut offices of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, nationwide following the announcement of its unbundling by minister of state for petroleum, Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu.

Kachikwu the Group Managing Director of NNPC, had explained that what the oil corporation did was "reorganization,"� a restructuring that will see it split into five divisions.

He assured that he was going to meet the unions yesterday to forestall further action by the unions, which may lead to a more biting fuel scarcity across the country.

But the unions have now resolved to work with the NNPC as long as its workers were not affected in the unbundling.

An NNPC source confirmed the development this Thursday morning.

"Please be informed that the unions have shelved their strike."�

"They took the decision after a long meeting with the Minister.

"We have not unbundled NNPC. We had a press conference yesterday where I explained this,"� Kachikwu said.

"What we have simply done is a reorganization. We have five business entities focused on business- Upstream, Downstream, Refineries, Gas, and Power that are there before.

"There is also ventures that capture all our little companies that were not having proper stewardship.

"They are run by individuals who report to the GMD. The NNPC is still a whole. There is nothing new that has happened.

"I have tried to explain this, and I am sure the NNPC workers are members of the family, they will understand.
 

"We are going to have a meeting, and they will be made to understand. Perhaps the engagement has not been good enough.
 

"NNPC has not been unbundled in the sense of breaking up NNPC into distinct institutions. I am concerned.
 

"I don't want the industry shut down. I am sure we are going to resolve the issues very soon,"� he further explained.