AKINWALE ABOLUWADE
The Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) has directed its members nationwide to embark on a strike following the alleged dismissal of over 800 Nigerian workers by Dangote Refinery.
In a circular issued after an emergency National Executive Council (NEC) meeting on Saturday, signed by General Secretary, Lumumba Okugbawa, the union accused the refinery of flouting Nigeria’s labour laws, the Constitution, and International Labour Organisation conventions by terminating workers for joining the association.
PENGASSAN further alleged that the affected staff had been replaced with “over 2,000 Indians,” describing the move as “an affront to all Nigerian workers.”
To press its demands, the NEC directed members in field locations to withdraw services from 6am on Sunday, September 28, while a total nationwide shutdown across offices, companies, institutions and agencies is to begin at 12:01 am on Monday, September 29.
The circular instructed members to suspend all operations, including control room and panel duties, as well as crude oil and gas supply to Dangote Refinery. It also ordered International Oil Companies (IOCs) to scale down gas production destined for the refinery.
“No intervention whatsoever will be entertained across field locations except where the safety of personnel and assets is at risk, and such clearance must be obtained from the National Secretariat,” the letter stated.
The union also announced 24-hour prayer vigils and vowed that the strike would continue until the sacked workers are reinstated. “An injury to one is an injury to all. No man is bigger than our country,” the NEC declared.
The development comes amid an ongoing dispute between Dangote Refinery and oil workers’ unions over labour rights and safety standards.
The refinery had, in a letter dated September 24, 2025, defended the dismissals, alleging sabotage that threatened the operational safety of the 650,000-barrel-per-day facility.
While PENGASSAN maintains that about 800 Nigerians were unjustly sacked, management insisted the exercise was part of an internal reorganisation to boost efficiency and stressed that the majority of its workforce remains Nigerian.
If fully enforced, the strike could disrupt crude and gas supplies to the refinery and trigger wider shocks across the downstream petroleum sector.
