In compliance with the directives from its National Executive Committee (NEC)) for a nationwide industrial action, members of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association (PENGASSAN) on Monday barricaded the premises of NNPC Limited (NNPCL) in Abuja.
The aggrieved union members are protesting the alleged illegal sacking of over 800 Nigerian workers by the management of the Dangote Refinery.
At the scene of the protest, Channels Television spotted the union members singing solidarity songs while gathering at the NNPCL office and those of the oil and gas regulators.
The union members blocked the gate into the premises, just as their colleagues at the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority also blocked the entrance into their premises.
The same situation was reported at the headquarters of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission.
In a circular by its General Secretary, Comrade Lumumba Okugbawa, after NEC’s emergency meeting on Saturday, 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 that 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.
The circular read: ‘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, 29 September, 2025’.
But the Dangote Petroleum Refinery said last week that its recent reorganisation, 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.
