Dangote Refinery: PENGASSAN Orders Nationwide Strike Over Sack of 800 Nigerian Workers 

By Chinedu Echianu

The Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) has directed its members nationwide to withdraw their services following the alleged dismissal of over 800 Nigerian workers by the management of Dangote Refinery.

In a statement issued on Saturday, September 27, and signed by its General Secretary, Comrade Lumumba Okugbawa, the union described the refinery’s actions as a gross violation of Nigeria’s labour laws, the Constitution, and international labour conventions.

According to PENGASSAN, the refinery’s decision to replace the sacked Nigerian staff with over 2,000 foreign workers, mostly Indians, is “a show of disloyalty to a country that has given it the most incentives any company has ever enjoyed at taxpayers’ expense.”

The union accused the refinery of subjecting Nigerian workers to “the worst type of working conditions in the oil and gas industry,” stressing that no individual or company should be allowed to act above the law.

Consequently, the union’s National Executive Council (NEC) resolved that:

All PENGASSAN members working in field locations should withdraw their services effective 6:00 a.m. on Sunday, September 28, 2025.

Members across all offices, companies, institutions, and agencies are to down tools from 12:01 a.m. on Monday, September 29, 2025.

Gas and crude oil supply to Dangote Refinery and its petrochemical plants must be halted immediately.

Only safety-related interventions will be permitted with clearance from the union’s national secretariat.

PENGASSAN further urged its members to commence 24-hour prayers for divine intervention, calling on the government to compel Dangote Refinery to respect Nigerian laws and protect workers’ rights.

“No man is bigger than our country. An injury to one is an injury to all,” the statement read.