The Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) has declared a nationwide strike, effective 06:00 hrs on Sunday, 28 September 2025, in reaction to the controversial dismissal of about 800 Nigerian workers at the Dangote Petroleum Refinery.
This dramatic escalation follows an emergency National Executive Council meeting held late on Saturday, September 27, where the union’s leadership adopted an uncompromising stance.
In a circular signed by PENGASSAN General Secretary Lumumba Okugbawa, the union accused Dangote Refinery of breaching Nigeria’s labour laws, the national constitution, and conventions of the International Labour Organization by terminating workers allegedly for union membership.
According to the union, the refinery retaliated against employees who joined PENGASSAN by purging them and replacing them with more than 2,000 Indian nationals, a move PENGASSAN claims is both an affront to Nigerian workers and a violation of national labour standards.
In their view, this is not merely a corporate personnel reshuffle but a dangerous precedent that undermines workers’ rights and the domestic labour market.
To enforce the strike, PENGASSAN ordered its members in field operations including control rooms, panel operations, and personnel working in the field, to withdraw services starting Sunday morning.
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On Monday, 29 September, the union directed a full nationwide shutdown, affecting offices, institutions, agencies, and all branches of PENGASSAN.
A key component of the union’s strategy is to cut off crude oil and gas supplies to the Dangote Refinery itself. The circular demands immediate suspension of all processes tied to gas and crude supply to the refinery, and also calls on International Oil Companies (IOCs) with linkages to the facility to ramp down their gas production directed to Dangote.
PENGASSAN further mandated that no interventions be allowed, save for cases where safety of personnel or assets is at stake, and then only with clearance from its National Secretariat.
Meanwhile, the Dangote Refinery has strongly rebuked the union’s move, labeling the directive “criminal,” “lawless” and tantamount to economic sabotage.
The company insisted that no mass sack had taken place, claiming instead that the workforce is undergoing internal reorganisation aimed at improving efficiency, and that the majority of its employees remain Nigerians.
Dangote’s management also warned that the union’s attempt to disrupt crude and gas supply contracts could erode investor confidence and inflict hardship across the energy sector and the nation at large.
The backdrop to this confrontation is a statement by Dangote Refinery that some staff had been dismissed on grounds of sabotage. The company maintained such measures were necessary to safeguard the facility’s operations and safety.
However, PENGASSAN rejects sabotage as a pretext, arguing the term is being misused to suppress legitimate trade-union rights.
As the strike looms, concerns mount over its ripple effects. Should PENGASSAN succeed in obstructing gas and crude flows, Dangote’s capacity to maintain operations and supply refined products may suffer. This, in turn, risks aggravating fuel scarcity, raising pump prices, and imposing broader strains on the downstream sector in Nigeria.
For now, the union remains adamant: the strike will persist until the 800 dismissed workers are fully reinstated, and until Dangote addresses what PENGASSAN describes as a systemic threat to Nigerian labour.
