Wia dis foto come from, Dangote Refinery/Pengassan
New Informate 51 minutes wey don pass
As di Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (Pengassan) don start nationwide strike dis Monday, many dey fear say dis fit cause anoda round of fuel scarcity for di kontri.
Pengassan declare di strike sake of allegation say Dangote Refinery sack more dan 800 of dia staff members wey choose to join di union, and replace dem wit Indians.
“No man or company, no mata how highly placed, dey above di law wey our national institutions no fit call am to order,” Pengassan tok for dia statement on Saturday.
On Sunday, di Ministry for Labour and Employment release a statement dey beg Pengassan say make dem no go ahead wit di strike bicos e go cause hardship for di pipo.
“I dey appeal to both parties make dem dey mindful of di importance of di petroleum sector to di kontri, bicos na di core of her economy,” di statement tok.
“No be only say di strike go lead to heavy revenue losses by di kontri but e go also cause more hardship and difficulties for Nigerians. E go get bad impact, both for economic stability and national security.”
Weda Nigerians go see fuel scarcity for di kontri sake of dis strike, Festus Osifo, di president of Pengassan, say dia members no dey involved for di day-to-day distribution of petroleum products across di kontri, so di strike no go affect di ordinary Nigerian immediately.
“Pengassan dey operate largely for di upstream sector of Nigeria oil and gas industry. As at today, even for di Dangote refinery and across di tank farms, dem get ova 30 days sufficiency of PMS distribution. So no disruption go affect dat,” Osifo tok for one interview wit Channels Television.
“Pengassan no get tanker drivers, our job na for di sophisticated engineering jobs. No be our responsibility to dey move products from Dangote refinery to di fuel stations.”
Osifo, however, agree say if di strike tey small pass one week or two, den e go affect di availability of petroleum products for di kontri.
Wetin dey cause dis quarrel between Dangote Refinery and Pengassan
Wia dis foto come from, pengassan.org
Wetin we call dis foto, Festus Osifo, di national president of Pengassan, dey accuse Dangote Refinery of breaking Nigeria labour laws.
According to Osifo, e say more dan 1000 employees of di Dangote Refinery bin indicate interest to join Pengassan, and dem collect membership forms, fill am and submit.
Osifo say Pengassan bin write letter to di refinery on Monday 22 September 2025, to inform dem about di membership of dia employees, and to ask dem to deduct dia annual union dues from salary and remit to di union, in accordance to labour union laws.
In dia response, Osifo claim say di refinery start to contact di affected members one by one to find out true-true weda dem indicate to join Pengassan, and all of dem gree say dem wan join.
“Immediately afta dat, wetin Dangote do be say e now start to dey issue mass sack letter to all of dem on Thursday (25 September),” Osifo tok.
“Dis no be Banana Republic. Dis is not done. So if di Nigeria economy dey suffer today, Dangote Refinery suppose dey held responsible.
Osifo mention some international oil companies (IOCs) for Nigeria wey, according to am, don invest plenty times more money dan wetin Dangote Refineries invest for Nigeria, “and for dis companies, Pengassan dey dia, Nupeng dey dia, and we dey work togeda without problem”.
Dangote Refinery bin don get gbas-gbos wit di National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (Nupeng) for early September dis year, and di union also go on strike sake of say di refinery no gree make dia staff join di union.
Di federal govment later settle dat case wen dem call both parties for meeting for Abuja, wia Dangote Refinery agree say e go allow dia workers wey wan join Nupeng to join, but di ones wey no wan join, di union no get any power to force dem to join.
Govment go chook mouth
For dia statement on Sunday, di Ministry of Labour and Employment say govment don call meeting of both di leadership of Pengassan and representatives of Dangote Refinery for Abuja dis Monday.
Na di Minister of Finance and coordinating Minister of di Economy, Wale Edun, dey expected to chair di meeting. But di Labour Minister Muhammadi Dingyadi also go be part of di meeting.
BBC News Pidgin dey monitor di meeting.
In di meantime, oga Dingyadi ask Pengassan to call-off di strike sake of national interest.
Local tori dis Monday morning say Pengassan workers don lock di entrance gates to offices of oil institutions wey belong to govment, such as di Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), di Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), and di Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority(NMDPRA).
‘Why we sack our workers’ – Dangote Refinery
Meanwhile, Dangote refinery reject say dem sack dia workers sake of say dem join labour union, dem say na normal “reorganisation for di company” and di aim na to prevent “intermittent cases of sabotage”.
“Dis exercise no dey arbitrary. E don dey necessary to safeguard di refinery from repeated acts of sabotage wey don raise safety concerns and affect operational efficiency,” di company tok for one statement on Friday, 26 September 2025, afta news of di mass sacking bin break.
On Saturday, afta Pengassan declare strike and order dia members to shut di valve wey dey supply crude oil and gas to Dangote Refinery, di company describe di directive as “brazen and shocking display of lawlessness and criminality” and “economic sabotage on multiple levels”.
Dem tok say Pengassan no get any power under any law for Nigeria to give such orders, and say dis move go discourage foreign investors wey wan establish business for Nigeria.