TENSIONS between the Dangote Petroleum Refinery and the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) have deepened as the refinery halted monthly salary payments to engineers affected by the dispute that erupted in September.
News Point Nigeria reports that the salary suspension, confirmed by multiple officials and documents obtained by The PUNCH, affects engineers whose appointments were terminated but who were later offered redeployment to various Dangote Group projects across the country—offers many of them rejected.
Investigations revealed that the workers’ salaries were first reduced in October before being completely halted in November. Company officials said the action followed the refusal of many of the sacked engineers to accept redeployment to alternative Dangote-owned projects in Benue, Borno, Sokoto, Kebbi, Zamfara, Niger, and Ebonyi states.
Some of the dismissed engineers, speaking anonymously, stated that the company posted them to coal mines, concrete road construction sites, and rice processing plants roles they insist do not align with their original oil and gas career paths.
A senior Dangote Group official, who did not want his name published, said the company had no obligation to continue paying salaries to workers who declined alternative placements.
“Those whose services were terminated were given opportunities to work in our other projects… If a newspaper terminates an employee and still provides alternative work which the employee refuses, will it keep paying their salary?” the official asked.
Although the union insists the non-payment of salaries amounts to “victimisation,” PENGASSAN’s leadership says it is still prioritising dialogue with the company instead of immediately resorting to another industrial action.
PENGASSAN President, Festus Osifo, said that while the issues remain unresolved, the union prefers “jaw-jaw” to confrontation.
“There are still a lot of pending issues… We hope these issues will be resolved on the negotiation table so we do not go back to Egypt,” Osifo said.
The union had earlier shut down parts of the oil and gas industry in September after alleging that about 800 refinery workers were sacked for attempting to join the union.
The Dangote refinery denied this, saying only a small group of workers sabotaging operations were dismissed, describing the action as a necessary reorganisation.
The shutdown affected national oil and gas output and contributed to a dip in power generation until the Federal Government intervened, directing that the affected workers be redeployed.
In October, the Dangote Group invited the sacked engineers to pick up new letters titled “Offer of Trainee Engagement” under Dangote Projects Limited. The letters placed them as Engineer Trainees for a coal project in Okpokwu, Benue State, with a mandatory two-year training period.
But the workers raised several concerns: The letters allegedly lacked specific office addresses to report to.
Many of the deployment locations were perceived as security-risk areas.
The letters stated that failure to resume within 14 days would amount to termination—yet no verifiable work locations existed when checked on Google Maps.
According to the engineers, PENGASSAN advised them not to accept the postings while negotiations continued.
Another senior management officer told The PUNCH that while PENGASSAN is free to make demands, the company also retains the right to take decisions in line with its business interests.
“They have their privilege to ask. But we also have the privilege to state what we want,” he said.
Some affected engineers claim the company had earlier agreed to continue paying salaries pending the resolution of the crisis.
“We noticed a deduction in October. Then November salaries were not paid at all. It’s clear victimisation,” one of them said.
With Dangote insisting on redeployment and the workers refusing to accept what they describe as unsafe and irregular postings, the standoff remains unresolved.
PENGASSAN warns that unresolved tensions could trigger another nationwide shutdown—an outcome the union says it hopes to avoid but “will not shy away from” if necessary.