According to the CTC, workers received a mass termination email around 9:59 p.m. on Thursday\u2014just hours after affirming their membership in PENGASSAN during a union verification meeting.<\/p>\n
The committee further alleged that management withdrew staff buses, leaving employees to spend up to \u20a64,000 on transportation, and denied them access to the refinery premises\u2014while expatriate workers were reportedly allowed in.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt about 6:30 p.m., staff members who had joined PENGASSAN were denied entry into the refinery and were informed it was on the orders of Alhaji Aliko Dangote,\u201d the committee stated.<\/p>\n
In a particularly serious claim, the CTC accused management of directing the arrest and detention of union leaders.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe intercepted an internal directive ordering<\/p>\n arrest and detention of the CTC chairman by the General Manager of Human Asset Management. This is a direct act of intimidation against union leaders,\u201d the letter alleged.<\/p>\n The union described these actions as a violation of Section 40 of the 1999 Nigerian Constitution (as amended), which guarantees workers the right to freedom of association.<\/p>\n \u201cThese events clearly amount to targeted intimidation and victimisation of workers for exercising their constitutional rights,\u201d it added.<\/p>\n Dangote Refinery Responds: \u201cThis Is About Safety, Not Unionisation\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n In response, Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals issued a formal statement on Friday, rejecting claims of anti-union activity and framing the staff dismissals as part of a broader safety-driven reorganisation.<\/p>\n Femi Adekunle, Chief General Manager of Human Asset Management at Dangote Group, said the refinery had experienced multiple incidents of sabotage across operational units, which posed serious risks to personnel and infrastructure.<\/p>\n \u201cThe decision was taken in the best interest of the refinery. It followed intermittent cases of sabotage with dire consequences on human life and related safety concerns,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Adekunle noted that \u201conly a very small number of staff were affected\u201d by the reorganisation and insisted the company continues to employ over 3,000 Nigerians at the refinery. He also reaffirmed Dangote\u2019s commitment to workers\u2019 rights, including the freedom to join unions.<\/p>\n \u201cWe recognise and uphold internationally accepted labour principles, including the right of every worker to freely decide whether or not to join a union,\u201d the company said in the statement.<\/p>\n Dangote Refinery further emphasised that its primary objective is to operate safely, maintain integrity, and contribute to energy security for Nigeria and Africa.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Dangote Petroleum Refinery exists to serve Nigerians, to strengthen Africa\u2019s energy independence, and to create decent, sustainable jobs,\u201d the statement added.<\/p>\n Ongoing Dispute<\/strong><\/p>\n As of now, the conflicting narratives from both the union and the refinery management remain unresolved. While PENGASSAN calls for accountability and respect for labour rights, Dangote Group maintains that its actions are grounded in safety concerns and operational efficiency.<\/p>\n Industry observers and labour stakeholders are watching closely as tensions escalate between one of Africa\u2019s largest industrial employers and Nigeria\u2019s senior oil and gas workers\u2019 union.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) has raised the alarm over what it describes as the mass dismissal and intimidation of workers at the Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals, allegedly following their decision to unionise. In a letter addressed to the Zonal Chairman of PENGASSAN Lagos Zone, members of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":66192,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,15,7],"tags":[1363,5095,7328],"class_list":["post-95193","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","category-jobs","category-news","tag-dangote","tag-pengassan","tag-unionisation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95193","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=95193"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95193\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/66192"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=95193"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=95193"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=95193"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Screenshot_20240119-210950-300x173.jpg\")