The Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) has declared nationwide strike over the alleged mass dismissal of more than 800 Nigerian workers by the Dangote Petroleum Refinery.
In a circular issued after an emergency National Executive Council (NEC) meeting on Saturday, September 27, 2025, and signed by General Secretary Lumumba Okugbawa, the union accused the refinery of breaching Nigeria’s labour laws, the Constitution, and International Labour Organisation (ILO) conventions by allegedly sacking workers for joining the association.
The NEC claimed the refinery had replaced the dismissed staff with “over 2,000 Indians,” describing the move as “an affront to all workers in Nigeria.”
To enforce its demands, PENGASSAN instructed members in field locations to down tools from Sunday and ordered a total nationwide shutdown across offices, companies, institutions, and agencies from Monday.
The letter reads in part: “All PENGASSAN members working across field locations are to withdraw services effective 06:00hrs on Sunday, 28 September 2025 and commence 24-hour prayers. This includes all control room operations, panel operations, and outfield personnel.
“All PENGASSAN members across all offices, companies, institutions, and agencies should withdraw all services effective 00:01 on Monday, 29th of September, 2025.
“No intervention whatsoever will be entertained across field locations except where the safety of personnel and assets is at risk; such clearance must be obtained from the National Secretariat.
“All processes that involve gas and crude supply to Dangote Refinery should be let off effectively immediately.
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“All IOC branches must ramp down gas production and supply to Dangote Refinery and petrochemicals.”
The NEC also announced 24-hour prayer vigils and appealed for urgent government intervention, insisting the strike would continue until the dismissed workers are reinstated.
“An injury to one is an injury to all. No man is bigger than our country,” the circular declared.
The refinery has recently been locked in a bitter dispute with the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) over labour rights and safety standards.
The latest clash followed a letter from Dangote Refinery, dated September 24, 2025, in which management ordered the dismissal of some staff over alleged acts of sabotage that it claimed threatened the operational safety of the 650,000-barrel-per-day facility.
PENGASSAN, however, put the number of affected workers at about 800 and called on labour unions, relevant government agencies, and other stakeholders to intervene, describing the issue as one of “urgent national importance.”
Dangote Refinery has since denied carrying out a mass sack.