By Paul Ejime
Nigeria’s major oil workers union, PENGASSAN has announced the suspension of its two-day strike, but warned that the action would resume “without any notice” if a government-brokered agreement between the union and the Dangote Refinery is breached.
On the other hand, the Dangote Refinery has also signed a two-year Naira-for-crude oil supply deal with the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) to ensure continuity in fuel production for Nigeria’s domestic market.
The Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) directed its members on 28 September to disrupt activities at the Dangote Refinery, accusing the management of anti-labour practices, discrimination against local workers and sacking 800 staff for joining labour unions.
Dangote Refinery denied the accusations, explaining that a “few staff” were affected in an internal reorganisation as a result of intermittent cases of sabotage in the various units of the Refinery with dire consequences on human life and related safety concerns.”
“We are suspending (the strike) and will be monitoring closely. Any slip on the part of Dangote (Refinery), any part of this agreement, or any Communiqué put out by the Ministry of Labour that is broken, we will not give any notice; we will resume this suspended industrial action,” Festus Osifor, PENGASSAN President and head of the national Trade Union Congress (TUC), warned at a news conference on Wednesday 1st October.
Before the Federal Government stepped in to mediate the crisis and despite assurances of regular fuel supply, there was already a resurgence of black market petrol sellers, at least in Abuja, the nation’s capital, one of the major fears of industry watchers, in an oil-rich country was importing refined petroleum products with embarrassing shortages until the Dangote Refinery came on stream in 2024.
A tripartite meeting involving the government, PENGASSAN and Dangote Refinery initially ended in a deadlock on Monday night.
The negotiations resumed on Tuesday at the Ministry of Labour and Employment, Abuja and continued later at the Office of the National Security Adviser (NSA) before the parties reached an agreement on Wednesday.
According to the ensuing communique, the parties resolved that “unionisation is a right of workers in accordance with the laws of Nigeria and that this right should be respected.”
The meeting further agreed that the management of Dangote Group “shall immediately start the process of taking the disengaged staff to other units within the Dangote Group, with no loss of pay, and no workers will be victimised arising from their role in the impasse between Dangote and PENGASSAN.”
Osifo said that although PENGASSAN had reservations with some aspects of the agreement, it decided to abide by it because it respected constituted authorities.
“When these people were hired, they were given individual letters, but when it came to termination, one single letter was used to throw all of them out. We found that unacceptable. For us, injury to one is truly injury to all. When you fight one, you fight all,” the union leader added.
In one of its previous statements, Dangote Refinery had said: “We recognise and uphold internationally accepted labour principles, including the right of every worker to freely decide whether or not to join a union. Our commitment to workers’ rights is unwavering.”
Continuing, the statement said: “The Dangote Petroleum Refinery exists to serve Nigerians, to strengthen Africa’s energy independence, and to create decent, sustainable jobs. We will continue to work in partnership with our employees, regulators, and stakeholders to uphold the highest standards of safety, transparency, and accountability.”
Dangote Petroleum Refinery is part of the Dangote Industries Limited (DIL), owned by Africa’s richest man, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, which has made the group a major player in Nigeria’s energy sector.
The 20US$-billion refinery has 650,000 litres per day production capacity, enough to meet Nigeria’s domestic consumption and surplus for export.
It is the World’s largest single-train refinery, and one of a score of private refineries licensed by the Nigerian government after four state-owned refineries were run aground, resulting in incessant hardship and domestic shortages.
On Tuesday, Dangote Refinery signed a two-year crude supply deal with the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) to ensure continuity in fuel production for Nigeria’s domestic market.
The NNPCL confirmed ongoing crude allocations to the refinery in accordance with the newly signed agreement and assured stakeholders that the implementation of the Naira-for-crude oil programme would stabilise the domestic market.
Critics view Nigeria’s oil industry as a cesspool of corruption, characterised by opaque transactions with the so-called “oil cabal,” which makes a killing from deals at the nation’s and long-suffering citizens’ expense.
According to some industry sources, “those gaining from continued importation of petroleum products are fighting those trying to stop it.”
Since the Dangote refinery came on stream in September 2024, it has been one crisis after another amid a blame game by major stakeholders, and a lasting solution appears elusive.
The Federal government cancelled a scheduled traditional Military Parade to mark Nigeria’s 65th Independence Anniversary on 1st October, with the annual event overshadowed by the latest oil industry crisis.
An Award-winning Journalist, Paul Ejime is a Media/Communications Specialist and Global Affairs Analyst
