Efforts by the federal government to resolve the industrial dispute between the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) and Dangote Refinery ended in a deadlock late Monday, prolonging the nationwide strike.
The conciliation meeting in Abuja, chaired by the Minister of Labour and Employment, Muhammad Dingyadi, lasted more than nine hours but failed to produce an agreement on the reinstatement of over 800 workers allegedly sacked by the refinery.
Dingyadi said progress had been made on other matters, but the issues of reinstatement and unionisation remained unresolved, with talks set to resume on Tuesday afternoon.
PENGASSAN President, Festus Osifo, insisted that the strike would continue until the dismissed workers were recalled, warning that branding them as “saboteurs” had jeopardised their future employment in the oil and gas industry.
He said: “Our position is clear: if you reinstate them now, we will call off our action now. But that reinstatement did not happen.”
The union leader also confirmed that the Dangote Group admitted to dismissing the workers, with termination letters already circulating in the media.
Finance Minister Wale Edun raised concerns about the economic risks of the strike, stressing the need to restore gas and crude supplies to sustain production and maintain Nigeria’s growth momentum.
