LAGOS, Nigeria — The management of the Dangote Petroleum Refinery has launched a blistering attack on the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), accusing the union of using “bully and guerrilla tactics” to hold Nigerians hostage through its nationwide strike.
In a strongly worded statement on Sunday, September 28, 2025, titled “Lawless PENGASSAN: Its Lies and Terror Tactics”, the refinery dismissed claims that it had sacked more than 800 Nigerian workers for joining the union, calling the allegations “tissues of lies.”
“What the Association has embarked upon is tantamount to an act of terror,” the statement read, warning that the strike threatened essential supplies of fuel, kerosene, cooking gas, diesel, and aviation fuel to over 230 million Nigerians.
PENGASSAN had accused the refinery of replacing dismissed Nigerian workers with foreigners, a charge Dangote management flatly denied.
It said “over 3,000 Nigerians continue to work actively in our Petroleum Refinery” and that only a “very small number of staff” had been let go in an internal reorganisation.
“PENGASSAN has not joined issues with us on these factual assertions; rather it continues to peddle the falsehood that we have sacked ‘over 800 members,’” the company said.
The refinery urged the Federal Government, security agencies, and Nigerians at large to resist the union’s tactics, warning of dire consequences for hospitals, care homes, and ordinary workers if petroleum supplies were cut off.
“PENGASSAN’s terrorist tactics must be defeated by the Nigerian people. It is in our interest to so do,” the statement said.
The company also demanded that law enforcement protect workers and facilities across the oil and gas sector to ensure uninterrupted operations.
The refinery accused PENGASSAN of a long history of “sabotage,” citing its opposition to the 2007 sale of refineries in Port Harcourt and Kaduna to a Dangote-led consortium, and its support for the “purported rehabilitation” of the Port Harcourt refinery, which the company described as “a scam on Nigerians.”
It further criticised the union’s resistance to amending the Petroleum Industry Act to attract private-sector investment into upstream joint ventures.
Dangote management also questioned the union’s financial accountability, challenging PENGASSAN and its ally, the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), to publish their audited accounts for the past decade.
“Dangote Group is the highest employer of labour in Nigeria and the highest contributor to the tax revenues of Nigeria and its sub-nationals.
What comparable social responsibility has PENGASSAN… lived up to?” the statement asked.
The refinery described itself as a “national asset that must be protected” and warned that the strike threatened both Nigeria’s economic recovery and energy security.
“The threatened action by the Association against Dangote Refinery threatens the economic recovery and energy security of Nigeria.
We must not allow the Association and its co-conspirators to sabotage and imperil the economic recovery and energy security of the country,” the statement concluded.
The standoff comes as the Federal Government prepares to mediate in emergency talks to prevent prolonged fuel shortages and nationwide blackouts.
