News Wings

Tag: PENGASSAN

  • PENGASSAN’s Strike, A Guerrilla Tactics to Hold Nigerians to Ransome-Dangote

    PENGASSAN’s Strike, A Guerrilla Tactics to Hold Nigerians to Ransome-Dangote

    …Challenges PENGASSAN, NUPENG to publish audited account of members dues

    The management of Dangote Petroleum Refinery yesterday described the declaration of strike by Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association (PENGASSAN) as a bully and guerrilla tactics meant to hold Nigerians to ransom for a selfish agenda. 

    Dismissing as tissues of lies, the claims of mass sack made PENGASSAN in its statement on Saturday night upon which it premised the call on its members to embark on strike, Dangote Refinery said what the Association has embarked upon is tantamount to act of terror.

    While highlighting the possible consequences of the strike on hapless Nigerians, Dangote Refinery management in a statement titled “Lawless PENGASSAN: Its lies and Terror Tactics”, said PENGASSAN could not justify its decision to hold over 230 million Nigerians to ransom by cutting off their essential supplies of petroleum products–kerosene, cooking gas, petrol, diesel, aviation fuel, amongst others.

    It stated that the resolve by the Association to bully tactics could not justify the threat to the lives of persons, including infants and aged persons, who need the petroleum products and attendant necessities for their life-support systems in the hospitals, in care homes, and the Nigerian workers whose lives and livelihood are to be put at risk with the strike.

    Dangote Refinery management therefore called on the Federal Government and its agencies, as well as all Nigerians, to stare down PENGASSAN and put a stop to the machinations and blackmail tactics of its oligarchs and sponsors.

    “Assuming that there are Dangote Refinery workers or ex-workers who are affronted by or aggrieved over the organization’s decisions, they surely have remedies that they can pursue in accordance with their employment contracts. PENGASSAN should not and must not be allowed to incite those employees or ex-employees neither should it interpose itself between them and Dangote Refinery. PENGASSAN’s terrorist tactics must be defeated by the Nigerian people. It is in our interest to so do.

    “PENGASSAN must not be allowed to persist in its bullying tactics against Nigerians. The Nigerian security and law enforcement agencies must provide security for the Nigerian workers in the oil and gas sector – all the facilities, installations and offices – so they can continue to provide their essential services to the Nigerian nation without let or hindrance by or from PENGASSAN and its co-travelers”, the refinery management stated.

    The statement read “In our release, we pointed out that “over 3,000 Nigerians continue to work actively in our Petroleum Refinery” and that “we continue to recruit Nigerian talent through our various graduate trainee programs and experienced hire recruitment process”. PENGASSAN has not joined issues with us on these factual assertions; rather it continues to peddle the falsehood that Dangote Refinery has sacked “all Nigerians working in the refinery and” presumably hired “over 2,000 Indians” to replace them. That is complete falsehood. We also stated in the release that there is an “on-going reorganization within” the Dangote Refinery which has resulted in the discharge of “a very small number of staff” and that the “exercise is not arbitrary” but is being carried out “in the best interest of the Refinery”.

    “These facts have not been rebutted by PENGASSAN neither has its oligarchs attempted to meet with Dangote Refinery to verify the truth. Rather it continues to peddle the falsehood that we have sacked “over 800 members” of PENGASSAN “for joining PENGASSAN”. Assuming that was a fact, which it is not, would that justify the terror and guerrilla tactics that the Association is now unleashing on Nigerians? Would that justify holding over 230 million Nigerians to ransom by cutting off their essential supplies of petroleum products – kerosene, cooking gas, petrol, diesel, aviation fuel, amongst others? Would that justify threatening the lives of persons, including infants and aged persons, who need the petroleum products and attendant necessities for their life-support systems in the hospitals, in care homes, etc. Would that justify the bully tactics of putting the livelihoods of Nigerian workers – the very people that PENGASSAN falsely professes to represent – and their extended dependents, at risk? And when we talk about Nigerian workers whose livelihoods are at risk, this goes well beyond the workers of Dangote Refinery and encompasses all Nigerian workers, including all the PENGASSAN members “across all offices, companies, institutions, and agencies” who are being commanded by the Association’s fiat, to down tools simply because the oligarchs within the Association believe it is fanciful to cut their noses to spite Dangote Refinery.

    “This is a bully tactic that the Nigerian State and people must not succumb to or allow. As the Association rightly pointed out in its Release, “no man or company” – and we must add, or Association, be it PENGASSAN or any other – “no matter how highly placed” or entrenched, “is above the law and cannot be called to order by the national institutions”. The oligarchs in PENGASSAN have proved themselves to be terrorists and have turned the Association into a bully organization. It is time they be called to order. Indeed, over time, the Association has consistently proved itself as serving interests other than those of Nigerians and Nigerian workers, and a few illustrative examples would suffice:

    “When in 2007 the Federal Government sold its moribund refineries in Port Harcourt and Kaduna to Blue Star Consortium led by Dangote Group at US$750million, it was this same bully Association, PENGASSAN and its co-travelers one of whom is the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (“NUPENG”) that vociferously sabotaged the process. It is now obvious to everyone that the FGN’s decision at the time was the right one and that PENGASSAN and NUPENG ignominiously wrote their names on the wrong pages of history. (See Annexures 1 and 2)

    “More recently, PENGASSAN with its co-travelers loudly celebrated the purported rehabilitation of the Port Harcourt Refinery. Nigerians now know that the purported rehabilitation was a ruse and that PENGASSAN was knowingly celebrating a scam on Nigerians. PENGASSAN has also been in the forefront of opposing the amendment of the Petroleum Industry Act, 2021 in a manner that would allow the Federal Government to restructure the equity holdings of some of its upstream Joint Venture assets and thereby provide much-needed liquidity for the Government while injecting private-sector funding and expertise for the management of the assets. This is reminiscent of the inglorious role of the same PENGASSAN and its allies in aborting the sale of the Port Harcourt and Kaduna refineries in 2007.

    “Dangote Group is the highest employer of labor in Nigeria and the highest contributor to the tax revenues of Nigeria and its sub-nationals. What comparable social responsibility has PENGASSAN, with its billions of Naira in monthly check-off dues and subscriptions, lived up to? Can it publish publicly its account for the last 10 years and list out its corporate responsibility activities within that timeframe?

    “Dangote Refinery is a national asset that must be protected by the Nigerian State and its people. It must not be threatened by the PENGASSAN oligarchs and their co-travelers. The threatened action by the Association against Dangote Refinery threatens the economic recovery and energy security of Nigeria. We must not allow the Association and its co-conspirators to sabotage and imperil the economic recovery and energy security of the country. The economic recovery of Nigeria must not be derailed and/or reversed by PENGASSAN. To paraphrase the perverted and abused sayings of the Association, no Association, not even PENGASSAN, “is bigger than our country”. “An injury” to Dangote Refinery by PENGASSAN, “is an injury to all”.

    “We conclude by reasserting the opacity and lack of transparency in the operations of PENGASSAN as evident in its failure or inability to publish its audited accounts over the years. Why has the watchdog which the Association and its partner, NUPENG, profess to be, failed these several years to publish their respective audited accounts and be accountable to their members and the Nigerian people?

    “We challenge both PENGASSAN and NUPENG to publish for the Nigerian public, within 7 (seven) days of this publication, their respective 10 (ten) years audited accounts, failing which they should permanently bury their heads in shame.”

  • PTD Berates NUPENG For Frustrating Peace Talks With Dangote, Tells Govt, Organized Labour To Be Chary

    PTD Berates NUPENG For Frustrating Peace Talks With Dangote, Tells Govt, Organized Labour To Be Chary

    Petroleum Tanker Drivers have advised local and international Labour organizations, industry regulator, including Ministry of Labour and Employment not to be cajoled by the antics or sentiments of NUPENG who was currently painting a more dramatic picture in the fray by accusing Dangote Refinery’s representatives of deliberately frustrating the ongoing peace process initiated by the Nigerian Government.

    This advice was contained in a jointly signed statement on Tuesday by stakeholders of PTD Branch of NUPENG, namely, Comrades (Alhaji) Tajudeen Abubakar (Kaduna Zone), Chief (Mrs.) Blessing Dafinone (Warri Zone), Comrade Joseph Dagogo-Jack (JP) (Port Harcourt Zone) and Comrade Kolade Fadahunsi-Ojelabi (Lagos Zone).

    It would be recalled that the peace talks, which started Monday evening, September 8, ended around 12 a.m. in the early hours of Tuesday without any fruitful resolution. While NUPENG insisted that workers in Dangote Refinery must unionise, Dangote officials said union membership should be made optional.

    NUPENG had last week directed its members to halt petroleum product distribution nationwide from September 8, over what it considered as Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals’ “anti-labour practices”. At the centre of the dispute was Dangote Refinery’s purported insistence that drivers recruited for its 10,000 compressed natural gas (CNG) trucks will not be allowed to join any trade union.

    The statement reads in parts:

    “Without prejudice Dangote refinery and its business partners have been so magnanimous by honouring the call of the peace mediators, comprising of Ministry of Labour and Employment, industry regulators and leaders of Organized Labour when it conceded to the plea that refinery workers can be unionised, but unfortunately NUPENG insisted workers in the Refinery facilities must be unionised by force and their membership must never be made optional.

    “My candid advice to the local and international Labour organizations as well as the country’s Ministry of Labour and Employment is that they should never fall for the crocodile cry of NUPENG’s leadership as it is presently constituted. Organisations like IndustriALL Global Union, TUC, NLC, ITUC-Africa, NARRO, PENGASSAN, PETROAN, NOGASSA, CANMPSSAN, TGTSSAN, Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) etc, should not fall for the antics, manipulations and sentiments of NUPENG. There is no truth in the propaganda pushed by NUPENG that Dangote Group and MRS Holdings are engaged in anti-union practices, monopolistic agenda, or indecent industrial relations strategies.

    “These Labour organizations should ask NUPENG while it is currently frustrating, harassing, intimidating, sacking, arresting, suspending and suing to court both its paid staff and members over trumped-up charges. As we speak NUPENG took the national executives of PTD led by Comrade Lucky Osesua to Court, they are also in Court with the National Treasurer of the Union, Alex Agwanwor who they criminally violated his fundamental rights, recorded his private conversation with his friends and families, prevented him to freely associate and communicate.

    “NUPENG even maligned the image of the union when their leaders were slammed with contempt charges by the National Industrial Court of Nigeria (NICN) and other courts of competent jurisdiction. The national leaders of NUPENG are currently faced with more than 50 court cases, not with Government or any organization in the industry though, but with their own staff and members. NUPENG is also fighting Direct Trucking Company Drivers Association (DTCDA) and the Association of Distributors and Transporters of Petroleum Products, (ADITOP), and these are also critical stakeholders in the oil and gas sector. Is that not ridiculous? That is the same union accusing Dangote of monopoly. These double standards should be condemned in its entirety.

    “We need to be fair as Nigerians by appreciating how Dangote group has outlined the major infrastructure moves in the country’s business climate, including the Petroleum industry downstream sector. Infact Dangote should be celebrated for taking the risk of purchasing 10,000 environmentally-friendly CNG trucks to make distribution of petroleum products seamless, effective and efficient without hiccups.

    “Those trucks will undoubtedly reduce the cost of diesel. They will reduce the fumes that come from burning diesel, will ensure faster delivery/journey times, less accidents, and guarantee supply reliability.

    “There is nothing like monopolisation in Dangote’s business, what we can see is better regulation and supply efficiency, The question Nigerians should ask is that have we had disruption since 2024? Dangote is practically taking off the entire Sub-Saharan African market. He exported 1.3 billion litres of petrol in June and July. For the first time, he exported petrol to the United States of America. The performance of the refinery speaks for itself, So the question is, has there been reliability of supply and assurance of supply? Dangote is supplying the market and there’s reliability. Government should consider the option of proscribing NUPENG instead of listening to their gibberish.”

  • NUPENG Fails Woefully As Dangote Refinery Workers Show No Willingness To Join Union

    NUPENG Fails Woefully As Dangote Refinery Workers Show No Willingness To Join Union

    The powers of the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) to unionise workers shrinks further on Tuesday as employees of Dangote Refinery and Petrochemical Limited including freshly recruited drivers of 10,000 newly purchased CNG trucks jointly vowed and doubled down not to embrace membership of the Union which they described as “Greek gift”.

    Speaking on behalf of the tanker drivers and refinery workers in Lekki on Wednesday, Taofeek Jimoh said the clause in the Memorandum of Understanding signed by the feuding parties on Tuesday, September 9, 2025, clearly showed that only “willing” workers can be unionised. This development covertly neutralised the strength of the NUPENG to gain dominance or relevance at the facility.

    Meanwhile, NUPENG was reported to have suspended its strike on Tuesday evening following an agreement with the management of Dangote Refinery to recognise workers’ rights to unionise after the intervention of the Ministry of Labour and Employment, Department of State Services, industry regulators and leaders of Organised Labour.

    The collapse of NUPENG was not merely the result of Nigeria’s economic shifts in the petroleum industry value chain, Petroleum Industry Act, or the outright deregulation of the sector where fuel prices are determined by market forces, but it was NUPENG’s lack of coordination, archaic operational/negotiation tact, arrogance, administrative indiscretion and absence of due diligence of its leaders that caused them this latest embarrassing blow.

    Taofeek who also corroborated what some stakeholders of Petroleum Tanker Drivers (PTD) Branch of NUPENG said earlier on Tuesday during his chat with some energy correspondents on Wednesday said:

    “The deregulation of Nigeria’s oil and gas sector is a transformative policy shift. The government’s goal is to tackle inefficiencies, attract investment, and create a market-driven operation where market forces determine fuel prices. Dangote Refinery as a major player in this sector has only validated and widened the progress made by the government of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, particularly in his Renewed Hope Agenda.

    “Today, I feel so proud as a tanker driver working for Dangote with an excellent pay package that speaks to my welfare, insurance, hazard allowances, world-class safety kits, and other benefits without the involvement of any union or their so-called collective bargaining agreements. I am a University graduate, and being a driver does not diminish me or strip me of my self-esteem; there is dignity in labour. This positive paradigm shift has shown that NUPENG is a scam to workers and whatever they are trying to claim to offer any staff here would be seen as a Greek gift, that is why everybody is seeing them as a plague to the work environment. The grandstanding can no longer work.

    “What finally messed up NUPENG was the clause in the Memorandum of Understanding which stated that only willing workers can be unionised, and from all indications, no refinery workers or tanker drivers are showing interest in being unionised. Section 9(6) of the Labour Act, and ILO conventions ratified by Nigeria, forbids NUPENG or any other union from forcing union membership, because doing so would infringe on workers’ constitutional freedom to associate willfully. The world is evolving every day, but NUPENG has refused to realise this simple fact; they are still depending on their old glory, which no longer exists since the demise of late Chief Frank Ovie Kokori, a consummate organiser and administrator with integrity who knew his onions.

    “I clearly agree with those PTD stakeholders who advised local and International Labour Organizations and the Ministry of Labour and Employment not to fall for the crocodile tears of NUPENG’s leadership as it is presently constituted. Organisations like IndustriALL Global Union, TUC, NLC, ITUC-Africa, NARRO, PENGASSAN, PETROAN, NOGASSA, CANMPSSAN, TGTSSAN, Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) etc, should not fall for the antics, manipulations and sentiments at all. There is no truth in the propaganda pushed by NUPENG that Dangote Group and MRS Holdings are engaged in anti-union practices, monopolistic agenda, or indecent industrial relations strategies.

    “My valid poser to these Labour organisations is that they should ask NUPENG why they are fighting workers in their thousands, who are simply members of the Direct Trucking Company Drivers Association (DTCDA) and the Association of Distributors and Transporters of Petroleum Products (ADITOP). Meanwhile, these are also critical stakeholders in the oil and gas sector. However, NUPENG, which is presently crying blue murder and accusing Dangote of monopoly, has been seen to be so toxic and intolerant to other stakeholders in the country. These double standards should be condemned in its entirety and should never be allowed to fly.

    “Nigerians should appreciate how Dangote group has outlined the major infrastructure moves in the country’s business climate, including the downstream sector of the Petroleum industry. In fact, Dangote should be celebrated for taking the risk of purchasing 10,000 environmentally-friendly CNG trucks to make the distribution of petroleum products seamless, effective and efficient without hiccups.

    “Those newly purchased trucks will definitely reduce the cost of diesel. They will reduce the fumes that come from burning diesel, will ensure faster delivery/journey times, fewer accidents, and guarantee supply reliability, and more importantly, they are insured.

    “There is nothing like monopolisation in Dangote’s business; we can see better regulation and supply efficiency. The question Nigerians should ask is whether we have had disruption since 2024? Dangote is practically taking off the entire Sub-Saharan African market. He exported 1.3 billion litres of petrol in June and July. For the first time, he exported petrol to the United States of America. The performance of the refinery speaks for itself, so the question is, are supply and assurance reliable? Dangote is supplying the market and there’s reliability. The government should consider the option of proscribing NUPENG instead of listening to their gibberish.

    “I must also thank senior officials of DSS and the Ministry of Labour and Employment for their firm stand on not allowing NUPENG to plunge Nigeria into a fresh round of economic crisis and for their resolve to make Nigeria’s business climate friendly, healthy and attractive to both local and foreign investors. We need more refineries in the country, and we want more players who can depopulate the unemployment market just like Dangote, and we don’t want any resistance to this progressive and fruitful move. Again NUPENG must remember that unionism is not by force but has been made optional and in Dangote Refinery workers have rejected them like hot potatoes.”