The Nigeria Labour Congress has directed its affiliate unions to begin urgent mobilisation and prepare for a nationwide industrial action against the Dangote Group, accusing the conglomerate of sustained anti-worker practices. This came as the nationwide strike declared by the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria on Monday against the refinery paralysed operations at key oil and gas regulatory institutions, including the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, and the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority.
Also on Monday, the National Industrial Court in Abuja restrained PENGASSAN from embarking on its industrial action against Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals FZE, barring the union from halting crude oil and gas supply to the $20bn Lekki-based refinery. However, PENGASSAN declared that it was not aware of the court injunction, arguing that court orders or processes were served via a court bailiff and not through social media.
In an internal memo shared with The PUNCH on Monday and addressed to the presidents and general secretaries of affiliate unions, NLC President Joe Ajaero placed NLC affiliates on alert. The directive follows a clash between Dangote refinery and PENGASSAN. The oil union earlier announced that more than 800 workers at the Dangote refinery were dismissed after attempting to unionise. The union alleged that many of the jobs were replaced with more than 2,000 expatriates, mainly from India. Dangote has denied the accusations, saying the layoffs were part of a restructuring to improve safety and prevent sabotage, adding that over 3,000 Nigerians remain employed.
The standoff has already led PENGASSAN to order a halt to crude and gas supplies, forcing a temporary shutdown of operations at the refinery, which is critical to Nigeria’s efforts to cut fuel imports and ease pressure on foreign exchange.
