Talks on the planned enhanced remuneration for about 300,000 petrol attendants across the country may have been stalled, The Nation has learnt. The talks were scheduled to begin last month.

There was an agreement to increase the salaries of petrol attendants by last month, but the decision has been mirred by disagreement and stakeholders in the deal are back to the discussion table.

The deal is being brokered by some interest groups within the downstream sector of the petroleum industry.

The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN); Petrol Dealers Association of Nigeria (PEDAN); Petrol Station Workers Union (PSWU) and National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) are yet to reach an agreement on the issue.

Intrigues and power play, it was gathered, are hindering the implementation of the scheme, a development that suggests that the majority of the workers are still receiving N8,000.

Sources, who pleaded anonymity, said the controversy has mirred the unions involved in the issue have failed to reach a consensus to ensure that the workers get a better deal.

The sources at the meeting of the unions, which took place in Ilorin, Kwara State capital, said the workers could not get new salary package as planned for last month due to some problems in the scheme, which were yet to be resolved.

The Major Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN), a part of the talks, according to the sources, though absent, would not refuse to accede to the demand of the petrol station workers, adding that MOMAN's commitment was not in doubt.

"The Petrol Dealers Association of Nigeria (PEDAN), Petrol Station Workers Union (PSWU) and others are still working out modalities for the implementation of the enhanced welfare package. The Independent Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) is yet to show strong commitment to the issue. We do hope that all the concerned groups would come to terms on the issue soon. This will give the workers a new lease of life, given that most of them are not well paid," the sources said.

Efforts to get the IPMAN's President, Chief Chinedu Okoronkwo to speak on the issue proved abortive, but the ex-officio, Petrol Station Workers Union, Mr. Samson Akintayo said modalities for the new salary scheme for the fuel attendants have been fashioned out by bodies, such as PSWU, which is the apex body for petrol attendants, Petrol Dealers Association of Nigeria (PEDAN), IPMAN and NUPENG.

He said the assocaitions were involved in the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA), which drafted the conditions of service for the workers.

He said the agreement would spell out the new salary structures of the attendants, their leave bonuses, hospital bills, and other packages, adding each of the 300,000 attendants who work in over 30,000 filling stations in the six-geo political zones of the country would be given a copy of the agreement, as soon as the scheme takes off.

He said the minimum salary for the attendants is N15,000, while the older and experienced ones would earn between N20,000 and N25,000 monthly under the new scheme.