Dangote Refinery: PENGASSAN Declares Nationwide Strike Over Alleged Mass Layoffs

The Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) has declared a nationwide strike, accusing the Dangote Refinery of unlawfully dismissing more than 800 Nigerian workers for joining the union.

In a circular issued after an emergency National Executive Council (NEC) meeting on Saturday, September 27, 2025, and signed by its General Secretary, Lumumba Okugbawa, the association ordered members to withdraw their services from Sunday, September 28. The directive, it said, will culminate in a total nationwide shutdown of operations across oil and gas offices, companies, institutions, and agencies starting Monday, September 29.

“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,” the circular read.

It added, “All PENGASSAN members across all offices, companies, institutions, and agencies should withdraw all services effective 00:01 on Monday, 29th of September, 2025. No intervention whatsoever will be entertained across field locations except where the safety of personnel and assets is at risk; such clearance must be obtained from the National Secretariat.”

The union alleged that the refinery had replaced the dismissed workers with “over 2,000 Indians,” describing the development as “an affront to all workers in Nigeria.”

“All processes that involve gas and crude supply to Dangote Refinery should be let off effectively immediately. All IOC branches must ramp down gas production and supply to Dangote Refinery and petrochemicals,” the NEC ordered.

It also announced 24-hour prayer vigils and appealed for urgent government intervention, stressing that the strike would continue until the dismissed workers were reinstated. “An injury to one is an injury to all. No man is bigger than our country,” the circular said.

The refinery’s management, however, denied carrying out mass dismissals. In a statement,, the company said it was undergoing an internal reorganisation to improve efficiency, insisting that “the majority of its workforce remained Nigerian.”

LEADERSHIP reports that the latest row followed a September 24 letter in which the refinery accused some employees of sabotage allegedly threatening the operational safety of the 650,000-barrel-per-day facility. While Dangote put the action down to safety concerns, PENGASSAN maintained that about 800 workers were unlawfully sacked and urged government agencies, labour unions, and other stakeholders to intervene, calling the matter one of “urgent national importance.”

The standoff between the refinery and the union has further strained relations between the company and the oil workers’ movement, with the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) already at loggerheads with Dangote over labour rights and safety standards.