After over 800 workers joined the union, the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) has instructed its members to immediately stop supplying gas and crude oil to the Dangote Petroleum Refinery.
The union claimed that the shutdown was a reaction to the refinery’s “illegitimate and provocative action” against its members in a directive signed by Lumumba Okugbawa, its general secretary, and dated Saturday.
The letter urged members to take firm action against the 650,000 barrel per day plant and was sent to branch chairmen nationwide.
In response to the exercise of their constitutional right to unionization, the management of Dangote Petroleum Refinery has disengaged our members, as you are aware,” the union said.
Rather of interacting with us in a meaningful way to make amends, they have persisted in their propaganda and disinformation campaign to defend this illegitimacy.
You are therefore instructed to promptly turn off the gas supply to NGIC as a result of these. Close all of the refinery’s crude oil supply valves. It is necessary to instantly stop the loading process for the ship that is going there.
In addition to ordering all branch chairmen to rapidly report on compliance status, Okugbawa explicitly instructed the Nigerian Gas Infrastructure Company (NGIC) branch to make sure that the refinery’s gas supply was immediately cut off.
“Injury to one, injury to all” was added in the letter.
The action was taken less than twenty-four hours after Dangote Refinery acknowledged that it had fired certain employees for allegedly engaging in sabotage, but claimed that the action was related to unionization.
But according to PENGASSAN, more than 800 Nigerian workers were singled out soon after they willingly joined the organization, and management is being accused of unfair labor tactics and union-busting.
