About 20 vehicles purportedly belonging to one of the companies on the Nigeria LNG Train 7 project, First Marine and Engineering Services Limited were grounded on Thursday, February 1, 2024 in Bonny, Rivers State.

Some of the company’s disengaged staff, who seized the vehicles and tied them with fresh palm fronds, accused the company of ethnic profiling, intimidation, and highhandedness, among other anti-labour actions.

Some of the workers, who spoke to Kristina Reports on condition of anonymity, alleged that about 128 staff were to be arbitrarily laid-off but after some interventions, the number was reduced to 60.

They further alleged that 31 of the disengaged staff were indigenes of Bonny LGA, adding that they have since been replaced with about 40 non-indigenes.

A letter by the company to its staff announcing the disengagement process, which was signed by the Human Resources Administrator for its Train 7 project, Frank Ogbunubo, and sighted by Kristina Reports, directed the disengaged staff to submit company property in their possession on or before Wednesday, January 31, 2024.

A list of the disengaged staff, which was enclosed in the letter, shows that 36 out of the 60 laid-off staff were community slots. This, close watchers of the development say appears to reinforce the workers’ claim of ethnic profiling, discrimination and victimisation by the company.

Kristina Reports sighted 31 names in the letter which were of the Ibani ethnic group including surnames such as Tolofari, Pepple, Jumbo Banigo, Brown, Tobin, and Benstowe, amongst others

The company, in the said letter, adduced “completion of milestone” as the reason for the disengagement, which appeared curious as new recruitments were done by the same company, with questions being asked if the new employees were for the next milestone.

The vehicles, which included four Toyota Hilux vans and 15 Toyota Coaster buses, were grounded at different locations in Bonny, Rivers State with fresh palm fronds tied to them, signifying, in Ibani tradition, that an offence has been committed against Bonny Kingdom.

The aggrieved workers, however, disclosed that after submitting their identity cards, the company refused to pay them their entitlements until Wednesday morning when the said vehicles were grounded that was when they started receiving bank alerts.

Aside the ethnicization of the recruitment and redundancy process in the company, the workers also accused the company of short paying them and in some cases outrightly denying them some of their entitlements, asserting that such actions by the company borders on criminality.

Efforts by Kristina Reports to have explanations or responses to these allegations by the workers from the company proved abortive as at the time of this report.

Calls to the mobile line of the Human Resources Administrator of First Marine and Engineering Services Limited, Frank Ogbunubo were neither answered nor returned just as there was no response to messages sent to his mobile line.

Efforts to also have the reaction of the Community Liaison Officer (CLO), Simeon Wilcox also proved abortive as at the time of this report as he was yet to respond to messages sent to his WhatsApp number.

Some of the workers, albeit allege that he is also the company’s Community Relations Manager and Legal Adviser as well as a contractor to the company, hinting at a clear case of conflict of interest, an allegation he also did not respond to.

Where this claim by the workers prove to be true, it would naturally fit into the narrative around Bonny Island of community liaison officers allegedly conniving with rogue companies to undermine the interest of the same community, which interest they were appointed to represent in the first place.