By Abiola Olawale
The Federal Government has announced that it has been able to broker an agreement between the Dangote Refinery and the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN).
In a statement issued on Wednesday in Abuja, the Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Mohammed Maigari Dingyadi, confirmed that Dangote will redeploy over 800 disengaged workers.
The Minister also announced that the redeployed staff will not suffer any loss of pay due to the redeployment.
He said: “After examining the procedure used in the disengagement of workers, the meeting agreed that the management of Dangote Group shall immediately begin the process of redeploying the disengaged staff to other companies within the Dangote Group, with no loss of pay.
“No worker will be victimised arising from their role in the impasse between Dangote and PENGASSAN.”
He further explained that both sides had reached a compromise, noting that “PENGASSAN agreed to start the process of calling off the strike. Both parties agreed to this understanding in good faith.”
The New Diplomat reports that this development came following a breakdown in earlier talks between the refinery management and PENGASSAN, which had ended in a deadlock on Monday.
The dispute began after PENGASSAN raised concerns over what it described as mass transfers and dismissals of union members by Dangote’s refinery management.
The union also accused the company of replacing some Nigerian staff with foreign workers, arguing that these actions violated labour laws and undermined local employment rights.
The refinery’s management, however, denied these allegations, stating that the workforce reorganization was due to operational requirements and not related to union activities.
The standoff took a massive turn after PENGASSAN announced its decision to halt gas and crude oil supplies to the refinery, raising alarm over potential disruptions to the nation’s energy supply and economic stability.
