The Federal Government has urged the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENSASSAN) to reconsider its proposed strike starting on Monday over its dispute with Dangote Refinery.
The Minister of Labour and Employment, Muhammad Dingyadi, who made this plea on Sunday, said his Ministry had taken steps to bring both parties to a roundtable to stop their dispute from escalating further.
In a statement by the Ministry’s Head of Information and Public Relations, Patience Onuobia, Dingyadi disclosed that invitations had been extended to both the leadership of PENGASSAN and Dangote Refinery management to attend an emergency meeting in his office on Monday for the conciliation of their dispute.
The Minister called on the leadership of PENGASSAN to withdraw the strike declaration to allow his Ministry to conciliate the dispute in a peaceful atmosphere.
Dingyadi said: ‘The Ministry of Labour and Employment through the Director of Trade Union Services and Industrial Relations has extended invitations to the leadership of PENGASSAN and the management of Dangote Refinery to attend a conciliation meeting in my office on Monday.
‘I appeal to both parties to be mindful of the importance of the petroleum sector to the country, being the core of her economy. A strike will not only lead to heavy revenue losses by the country but also cause more hardship and difficulties for Nigerians. Consequentially, it will have adverse impacts, both on economic stability and national security’.
He urged the feuding parties to give peace a chance, assuring them that the Federal Government would resolve the dispute amicably to the satisfaction of all the parties involved and in the national interest.
Also on Sunday, the Federal Ministry of Finance held a meeting of the Steering Committee of the Domestic Crude Oil and Refined Products Sales in Local Currency Initiative, and stressed that energy security and stability in the downstream oil sector remained a top priority.
The committee, chaired by the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Chief Wale Edun, said that recent reports of a suspension of the Naira-for-crude oil deal by the Dangote Refinery had been ‘amicably resolved’.
The statement added: ‘For the avoidance of doubt, the committee reassured that the crude oil for the Naira initiative will continue. It also assured that all outstanding issues, particularly the dispute between the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) and Dangote Refinery, are being addressed with urgency and in good faith’.
Also present at the meeting were the Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Senator Abubakar Atiku Bagudu; Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service, Mr. Zacch Adedeji, who also chairs the Technical Committee; representatives of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, the Central Bank of Nigeria, Afreximbank, and the Dangote Refinery.
The government insisted that Nigerians should not expect scarcity or price instability.
‘The Federal Government remains fully committed to ensuring energy security, protecting consumers, and maintaining stability in the domestic petroleum products market’, the statement noted.
By addressing labour concerns and reaffirming the continuity of its local currency crude oil sales initiative, the committee sought to calm growing public fears of another fuel crisis.
Dangote Refinery had earlier announced the resumption of the sale of fuel in Naira.
In a memo sent to marketers on Saturday, the refinery said this was due to the intervention of the naira-for-crude technical committee.
‘Following the intervention of the Naira for Crude Technical Committee Chairman, we are pleased to inform you of the resumption of PMS sales in Naira commencing immediately.
‘You may kindly proceed to place your orders in naira for both self-collection and free delivery of PMS to the earlier advised locations across the country. Thank you for your continued patronage’, the memo read.
In an earlier memo on Friday, the refinery announced the suspension of petrol sales in Naira, effective from Sunday, 28 September 2025, citing the exhaustion of its crude-for-naira allocation as the reason.
However, the intervention of the Federal Government committee in charge of the Naira-for-crude deal was said to have resolved the differences.
In a circular after an emergency of its National Executive Council meeting on Saturday, PENGASSAN directed its members nationwide to withdraw their services following the alleged mass dismissal of some Nigerian workers by Dangote Refinery.
The union accused the refinery of violating Nigeria’s labour laws, the Constitution, and International Labour Organisation conventions by dismissing workers for joining the association.
It alleged the refinery had replaced the dismissed staff with ‘over 2,000 Indians’, calling the action ‘an affront to all workers in Nigeria’.
PENGASSAN directed members in field locations to down tools from Sunday, and ordered a total nationwide shutdown across offices, companies, institutions, and agencies from Monday.
In its reaction to PENGASSAN’s allegation, Dangote Refinery said that the recent reorganisation in the company, which led to the sacking of some workers, was aimed at preventing intermittent cases of sabotage.
It also refuted claims that the exercise was arbitrary, adding that it was carried out to address safety concerns and boost operational efficiency.
‘This exercise is not arbitrary. It has become necessary to safeguard the refinery from repeated acts of sabotage that have raised safety concerns and affected operational efficiency.
‘The foregoing decision was taken in the best interest of the refinery as a result of intermittent cases of sabotage in the various units of the refinery with dire consequences on human life and related safety concerns’, the company disclosed in a statement on Friday, signed by the management.
The Dangote Refinery has recently been at loggerheads with unions in the oil and gas sector over labour rights, safety standards, and product distribution, among other issues.
PENGASSAN instructed its members nationwide to withdraw their services following the alleged mass dismissal of over 800 Nigerian workers by Dangote Refinery.
In a circular issued after an emergency National Executive Council (NEC) meeting last Saturday, and signed by General Secretary Lumumba Okugbawa, the union accused the refinery of violating Nigeria’s labour laws, the Constitution, and International Labour Organisation conventions by dismissing workers for joining the association.
The NEC alleged the refinery had replaced the dismissed staff with ‘over 2,000 Indians’, calling the action “an affront to all workers in Nigeria’.
To press its demands, PENGASSAN directed members in field locations to down tools from Sunday, and ordered a total nationwide shutdown across offices, companies, institutions, and agencies from Monday.
The NEC further announced 24-hour prayer vigils and appealed for government intervention, declaring the strike will continue until the dismissed workers are reinstated.
However, with the intervention of the Federal Government, the strike might be called off.
