Oshiomhole Faults PENGASSAN Over Nationwide Shutdown, Says Dangote Dispute Shouldn’t Punish Nigerians

Former Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) president and serving senator, Adams Oshiomhole, has faulted the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) for escalating its dispute with the Dangote Refinery into a nationwide shutdown of oil facilities, warning that the move was hasty, misdirected, and unfair to millions of Nigerians.

Speaking during an interview with Arise Television on Friday, Oshiomhole said while unions have a constitutional right to protect their members, such actions must be measured and should not impose unnecessary hardship on the wider public.

“I think that in seeking to protect a particular set of workers, you do not then risk the jobs of several other workers. When you are pursuing a dispute, the tools you deploy must be such that they do not undermine other people’s jobs,” he said.

He criticised the union’s decision to shut down facilities belonging to the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) and other firms over a disagreement involving only the Dangote Refinery.

“I suddenly witnessed long queues at filling stations and people came to me to ask, ‘why are we not at work today, what has happened to the oil industry?’ And the reason was that PENGASSAN had decided that NNPC be shut down, several other companies shut down, all because of a problem in one refinery,” Oshiomhole recounted.

Drawing from his experience as NLC president, Oshiomhole stressed that disputes must be directed at the specific employer involved, rather than dragging in unrelated companies and industries.

“We had a big battle with Union Bank of Nigeria over their policy on married couples working together. But even when we had the capacity to shut down all the banks, we didn’t. We recognised that the alleged offence of Union Bank could not be said to apply to others,” he recalled.

He further cautioned against union actions that inflict collateral damage on innocent citizens and small businesses.

“In pursuing war, you have to recognise that the tools you deploy must not hurt innocent people, like the tomato sellers who cannot get fuel to move their goods because there is a quarrel between one refinery and one union,” Oshiomhole said.

While affirming that freedom of association remains sacrosanct, he stressed that both employers and employees must act responsibly.

“Freedom of association is not just a constitutional right, it is a God-given right. But with that freedom comes responsibility, both the employer and employee must exercise their rights in a way that is fair,” he said.

The senator also urged unions to give new investors such as the Dangote Group time to stabilise operations before subjecting them to intense industrial pressure.

“An employer has to exist, mature and be strong enough to guarantee good-paying jobs. If you cripple a business before it even finds its feet, you are also destroying the jobs you claim to protect,” he warned.

Commissioned in May 2023 by former President Muhammadu Buhari, the 650,000 barrels-per-day Dangote Refinery is Africa’s largest single-train refinery.

Last month, PENGASSAN directed members to shut down operations nationwide in protest against alleged anti-labour practices at the refinery. The strike action sparked fuel queues across several states and drew criticism from government officials and industry players, who warned that the disruption could worsen Nigeria’s fragile energy supply chain.