The federal government’s peace meeting aimed at resolving the standoff between the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) and Dangote Refinery has failed to produce any breakthrough, Daily Trust reports.
The deadlock comes as the nationwide strike declared by the union entered its third day.
Our correspondent gathered that the talks, initially convened by Labour Minister Mohammed Maigari Dingyadi, began on Monday afternoon and stretched into the early hours of Tuesday without resolution.
The meeting, scheduled to resume at 2:00 p.m. Tuesday at the Ministry of Labour and Employment headquarters in Abuja, was later taken over by the National Security Adviser (NSA), Nuhu Ribadu, who assumed the role of chief conciliator.
Officials at both the Labour Ministry and the NSA’s office told our correspondent that the intervention became necessary following the grave dimensions the strike had assumed.
“This strike is already causing a big problem across the country. In fact, it can snowball into a big security challenge in the country if not resolved on time.
The NSA, as a coordinator of all security agencies, has a duty to ensure that he’s proactive in preventing any looming security issues,” one senior ONSA official who requested anonymity told Daily Trust Tuesday afternoon.
Meanwhile, indications have emerged that President Bola Tinubu may personally wade into the matter if all other efforts fail. His intervention, seen as the final option, is expected to follow the unsuccessful attempts of both the Labour Ministry and the NSA’s office.
Meanwhile, there are strong indications that PENGASSAN, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd. (NNPCL), the Nigeria Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), and the Nigeria Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) have not been served the court order restraining them from proceeding with the strike against Dangote Refinery.
PENGASSAN had earlier instructed its members to shut down thermal power plants, which supply about 75 percent of Nigeria’s electricity.
The Nigerian Independent System Operator (NISO) confirmed on Tuesday that power supply has dropped sharply, with generation on the National Grid falling to 3,200 megawatts (MW) from over 4,300 MW due to gas shortages caused by the strike.
A statement from NISO explained: “There are now real-time load adjustments to match available generation with system demand, while preventing a system frequency collapse. While continuous deployment of reactive power compensation and reserve monitoring to safeguard system integrity is strengthened.
There is selective load shedding, applied as a last resort, to avert a system-wide collapse and ensure fair power distribution. These timely actions enabled the NISO NCC to minimize the impact of the labour-induced gas shortages, sustain operational security, and maintain supply to critical loads, thereby averting a nationwide blackout.”
According to NISO, contingency measures, including ramping up hydro stations to contribute over 400 MW, have been deployed to cushion the shortfall from gas-fired plants.
Despite the Industrial Court’s ruling on Monday, PENGASSAN has pressed on with its strike. Efforts to serve the restraining order on the union have so far proved unsuccessful.
Justice Emmanuel Danjuma Subilim ruled that it was in the “interest of justice” for the court to bar the union from cutting crude and gas supply to Dangote Refinery, stressing that the order was necessary to “preserve industrial peace and aid the continuous provision of essential services to the Nigerian public, pending the determination of the substantive suit.”
However, lead counsel to Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals FZE, James Onoja (SAN), said attempts to serve the order had failed because the defendants insisted they were on strike.