Vice President Kashim Shettima’s remarks denouncing its industrial action over a dispute with the Dangote refinery have drawn criticism from the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria.
On Monday, PENGASSAN informed the media that if its members were fired once more, it would adopt the same course of action.
During a protest in Kaduna, some people accused PENGASSAN of trying to damage the Dangote refinery.
Due to claims that the Dangote refinery fired 800 employees who joined the union, PENGASSAN closed vital oil and gas facilities last week. However, the Dangote refinery claimed that as part of its restructure, it had only fired a small number of employees who were causing disruptions to the plant.
However, in order to defend their coworkers, oil and gas workers went on strike, which resulted in a decrease in power generation and losses for the country’s oil and gas output.
After the Dangote Group was requested to relocate the fired employees to other business units, PENGASSAN terminated the strike on Wednesday, allowing the Federal Government to step in and restore normalcy.
Cooking gas is still selling for N2,000 per kilogramme in Lagos and other locations as of Monday, despite the strike that prompted lines at filling stations being suspended.
Shettima referred to Dangote as an organisation and a cornerstone of Nigeria’s economic growth while speaking on Monday at the opening of the 2025 Nigerian Economic Summit in Abuja. He cautioned that no one should hold Nigeria hostage because it is superior to PENGASSAN.
“Aliko Dangote is not an individual; he’s an institution, and he’s a leading light in Nigeria’s economic parliament,” the Vice President stated.
And how we behave towards this gentleman will affect how we are perceived by others. He could have been valued between $70 and $80 billion by now if he had invested $10 billion in Google, Amazon, or Microsoft. However, he chose to invest in his nation, and we have an obligation to the next generation to enviously defend, advance, uphold, and safeguard the interests of this magnificent Nigeria.
In order to preserve our steadily improving economic fortunes, I would like to urge both labour and the organised private sector to exercise caution, reflect, and feel more patriotic when defining and enhancing the relationship between labour and industry. Holding the entire country hostage over a small labour dispute is not the point.
“PENGASSAN is inferior to Nigeria.” Shettima emphasised that Nigeria is bigger than all of us.
Festus Osifo, PENGASSAN’s national president, responded by saying that the country was larger than both Dangote and the presidency.
Osifo asserts that PENGASSAN’s mandate was to safeguard the employment of its members who were fired by the Dangote refinery for joining the association. He stated that this mandate will be fulfilled whenever the next one came up.
Of course, the country is larger than PENGASSAN, just as it is larger than the presidency and Dangote. Osifo told The PUNCH, “We have a mandate to protect our members’ jobs, which we will discharge whenever necessary.”
Osifo, who also serves as the president of the Trade Union Congress, emphasised that the same strike action would be used to handle the situation if it recurred and resulted in the dismissal of its employees.
“Our approach will be exactly the same if this same event occurs again tomorrow,” he said.
“Does the law prohibit workers’ right to strike?” Osifo asked in response to remarks on social media that suggested the Federal Government would be pressured to disband PENGASSAN because a strike by its members threatened energy security.
Similarly, Lumumba Okugbawa, PENGASSAN’s General Secretary, questioned, “Is Nigeria not bigger than any individual or institution?”
As part of its efforts to stable the economy and maintain growth, the Federal Government would continue to promote domestic production, according to Senator Abubakar Bagudu, Minister of Budget and Economic Planning.
“The government’s next priority is to maintain the reform in order to achieve growth and development.” “We will continue to support domestic production, and inflationary expectations are declining,” he stated.
Bagudu clarified that measures taken in May 2023 had strengthened resilience, reduced macroeconomic pressures, and prevented a fiscal collapse.
He said that the naira-for-crude policy, tighter borrowing discipline, deregulation of the foreign exchange market, and the elimination of gasoline subsidies were all brave decisions that set the groundwork for stability.
The minister went on to say that changes were starting to pay off, as evidenced by the GDP growth improving to 3.4% in 2024 and continuing to rise in 2025.
He claims that in order to maintain the downward trend in inflation and lower the cost of living, the government is giving priority to infrastructure, manufacturing, and agriculture.
He emphasised that it was still crucial to increase access to loans, mechanisation, storage, and transportation.
According to Bagudu, the next National Development Plan 2026–2030 aims to create a $1 trillion economy by 2030, supported by a more robust domestic production base, diverse revenue streams, and ongoing reforms. He also predicted GDP growth of 4.6% in 2025.
Dr. Jumoke Oduwole, Minister of Industry, Trade, and Investment, added that the Federal Government was committed to making sure that trade policies were implemented in a way that increased exports, produced jobs, and firmly positioned Nigeria in international value chains.
The issue is one of delivery as much as policy intent. In order for exporters to start feeling the effects within the next three years, how can Nigeria convert trade policy from impact to practice? “It’s time to go from words to results because talk is cheap,” she said.
Oduwole revealed that the administration had made proactive measures to strengthen African commercial integration.
She pointed out that Nigeria established a central coordination committee in the second quarter of 2025 to give stakeholders a clear roadmap, making it the first nation to implement the African Continental Free Trade Area’s five-year review.
In February, it was stated that we had submitted our tariff schedules and shown interest in acting as the territorial champion under the AfCFTA. To make sure Nigeria doesn’t fall behind, we are coordinating public reform with the dynamism of the private sector’, she continued.
She claims that the ministry has conducted negotiations with nations like Uganda and Ecuador in order to find business prospects for Nigerian companies in the clothing, light manufacturing, and cosmetics industries.
On structural hurdles such as high trade prices, clogged ports and export rejections, Oduwole said government was working on measures to lower costs by as much as 75 per cent, streamline agencies, and tighten standards.
It’s about putting policy into action and making sure that our manufacturers and exporters are affected. Over the past ten to eleven months, we have been engaged in that practical job,” she stated.
Olaniyi Yusuf, the chairman of the Nigerian Economic Summit Group, cautioned in his introductory remarks that foreign investors’ confidence in making long-term financial commitments to Nigeria would depend on how the nation treated its local investors.
He listed high debt service obligations, sluggish investor confidence, and ongoing inflationary pressures as the main barriers to inclusive growth.
Nigeria is presently in the stabilisation phase, he said, but he warned that if changes are not furthered, progress may be lost.
“Stabilisation has allowed us to breathe, but it is not the end goal. To prevent regressing, we must consciously accelerate and consolidate reforms,” he stated.
The head of the NESG listed seven areas—industrialization, infrastructure, investor confidence, fiscal sustainability, inclusiveness, institutional strengthening, and security—that ought to direct the consolidation of change.
He went on to say that in order to promote industrial growth, micro, small, and medium-sized businesses need to be backed by technology, dependable electricity, and reasonably priced financing.
He stressed the need for inclusive policies that affect households through social protection, employment, healthcare, and education.
He cautioned that “dead businesses don’t employ workers, they don’t pay salaries, and they don’t pay taxes,” emphasising that authorities should support rather than impede the expansion of the private sector.
Yusuf asked decision-makers to convey a strong message of legitimacy and confidence. He called for a national framework based on industrialisation, infrastructure, investment, inclusiveness, and institutions to direct the 2026–2030 National Development Plan, saying, “Nigeria must say clearly: we will protect, not picket, investors.”
Kaduna anti-PENGASSAN protest
Numerous demonstrators marched in support of the Dangote refinery on Monday in Kaduna, accusing segments of the labour movement and a well-connected oil importation cartel of attempting to thwart the nation’s fledgling domestic refining initiative.
“National Unity Against Sabotage: Reclaiming Our Petroleum Sector for the People” was the topic of the protest, which demanded for immediate government action to defend the multibillion-dollar refinery from “systematic attacks” by alleged members of the oil importation cartel.
With signs that read “Protect Local Refining,” “End Fuel Import Cartel,” and “Support Dangote Refinery,” the demonstrators, who were organised under the auspices of Partners for National Economic Progress, first gathered in Murtala Mohammed Square before making their way through Alkali Road, Ali Akilu Road, Ahmadu Bello Way, and Muhammadu Buhari Way.
Igwe Ude-Umanta, one of the movement’s leaders, informed the audience that the Kaduna protest was a component of a national campaign that started on October 2 in Abuja.
He characterised the protests as a national liberation movement that sought to protect Nigeria’s economy from those who, he claimed, were committed to maintaining its reliance on foreign petroleum.
This fight is against the cartel that devastated the textile sector, ruined our public refineries, and now seeks to shut down the Dangote refinery. We won’t allow them to be successful. Ude-Umanta declared, “The days of holding Nigeria hostage are over.”
He reminisced about the once-thriving textile industry in Kaduna, claiming that the petroleum industry was experiencing the same pattern of sabotage that destroyed that industry.
Before the same pattern of sabotage devastated it, Kaduna was a centre for textiles. By impeding local refining, they hope to duplicate that in our petroleum industry today. We’ll fight back,” he declared.
PANEP officials called recent union actions “economic terrorism” and accused PENGASSAN of involvement.
“Countries that impose tariffs are not stupid; they are protecting their economies,” Ude-Umanta said, adding that importers were scared of the possibility that local refining would expose price manipulation and corrupt practices. Dahiru Maishanu, who also spoke at the rally, said the union’s actions had gone beyond legitimate labour protest and were instead supporting the importers’ agenda. “What PENGASSAN did was not unionism; it was sabotage. The Federal Government should have arrested their leadership to serve as a deterrent. We cannot allow people to hide under labour unions to commit crimes against our economy,” Maishanu explained.
They accused the union of preventing the sale of locally produced liquefied petroleum gas and aviation turbine kerosene, claiming that the actions were meant to maintain monopoly profits and keep prices artificially high. The demonstrators called for President Bola Tinubu to act quickly to ensure that local refineries like Dangote are supplied with crude oil on terms equal to those offered to foreign refiners. “President Tinubu must stamp his feet. Local refineries must receive crude at the same.
Nigerians are being punished in order to safeguard their avarice. How can manufacturers and importers compete? They fear that local refining will reveal their deception and remove their price control, Maishanu stated.
The protesters claimed that local refining was already “breathing fresh air” for average Nigerians and commended the Dangote refinery for what they described as its early influence on the pricing of Premium Motor Spirit and diesel.
They cautioned that there would be dire repercussions for investor confidence and the overall economy if the refinery were to be compromised.
“The goal of this movement is economic salvation. No investor will ever risk bringing money into this country again if we let them destroy the Dangote refinery. Maishanu stated, “We have to defend this refinery as if it were our own.
They urged prompt policy and enforcement measures that would safeguard local refining capacity and penalise anyone discovered to be undermining it, and they urged the Federal Government to “crush every enemy of Nigeria’s economic progress.”
In response, Okugbawa stated that “it’s their constitutional right to protest,” while Osifo, the president of PENGASSAN, called the demonstrators “ignorant people.”
PENGASSAN dissolves NGIC
According to reports, the Nigerian Gas Marketing Limited and Nigerian Gas Infrastructure Company chapters of PENGASSAN’s national body were dissolved for their failure to cut off the gas supply to the Dangote plant during last week’s crisis.
However, the unit challenged the dissolution, accusing the union’s national secretariat of imposing an unfair penalty related to the unsuccessful attempt to cut off the Dangote refinery’s gas supply.
The NGIC/NGML Congress said it received the dissolution directive “with shock and dampened spirit” in a formal petition to PENGASSAN’s national leadership that was obtained on Monday. The Congress contended that the affected executives made a concerted effort to carry out the national strike order, but were thwarted by operational hazards and the heavy presence of security personnel at key gas facilities.
In a petition signed by 163 members, union members responded to the dissolution by calling for the officials’ reinstatement.
Part of the letter stated: “We, the NGIC/NGML PENGASSAN Branch members of Congress, formally appeal the decision of the National PENGASSAN Secretariat to dissolve our branch leadership over perceived acts of sabotage related to their inability to successfully execute the shutdown mandate of gas supply to Dangote refinery.”
Part of the letter stated: “We, the NGIC/NGML PENGASSAN Branch members of Congress, formally appeal the decision of the National PENGASSAN Secretariat to dissolve our branch leadership over perceived acts of sabotage related to their inability to successfully execute the shutdown mandate of gas supply to Dangote refinery.”
The NGIC employees argued that technical and safety limitations, such as producers’ ongoing gas input into the Escravos–Lagos Pipeline System and broken emergency shutdown valves at the Warri Gas Treatment Plant, prevented them from fully enforcing the shutdown.
“NGIC facilities and assets are intricate. For example, there are serious safety issues at the Warri Gas Treatment Plant, such as a malfunctioning emergency shutdown valve that, if not fixed, could put employees and nearby people in risk’, the letter stated.
The members also refuted rumours that the Dangote refinery’s petrol supply would be completely cut off.
The executives said that they never claimed that the refinery was shut down entirely.
They explained that in an effort to lower pressure, only a few valves along the line and the OB3 pipeline’s entrance through Oben were momentarily closed.
The officials went on to say that although the action was meant to create a pressure drop that might impact the refinery’s supply, it did not have the desired effect.
They added that the information given to the national president, implying that Dangote’s gas supply had been cut off, was based on an inaccurate assessment of the circumstances and was therefore premature.
It is also crucial to note that the branch executives never informed anyone that Dangote had been completely shut down. Instead, they merely stated that they had closed some valves along the line and the inlet from OB3 to the line through Oben and hoped that the pressure would decrease in a few hours, at which point Dangote would come down. However, none of this transpired as planned. We see that the person who notified the national president that the gas supply to the Dangote refinery had been cut off did so in a hurry to deliver good news and was impatient to wait for the results of the steps our NGIC colleagues took’, the statement continued.
In order to clear the disbanded executives of the charges of bribery and sabotage, the congress encouraged PENGASSAN’s national secretariat, headed by its president, to reconsider its decision.
A fair hearing was also demanded, emphasising that penalising devoted members who put their lives at danger during the industrial action may discourage others and erode unity in subsequent union conflicts.
“We, the Congress members, respectfully observe that, in spite of the danger to their life, our branch leadership went above and beyond to fulfil the National’s mandate. Even worse, they proceeded to perform what management has called “unheard of in the history of NGIC/NGML, i.e., the shutdown of facilities and damage of assets” (please note that NGIC/NGML PENGASSAN has never shut down any customers due to strike action prior to today).
The letter also stated that the constant gas infusion from producers to the ELPS and the significant military presence—which typically outnumbered them—limited the results they did report.
The engineers who joined PENGASSAN and were allegedly fired by the Dangote refinery are still awaiting their redeployment letters.
Dangote thanks Tinubu
Dangote Petroleum Refinery praised Tinubu for acting quickly to stop what it called PENGASSAN’s “disruptive actions” against the corporation.
The company said in a statement that the President’s leadership, through his ministers and high-ranking government officials, made sure that the energy sector was stabilised and ordered at a crucial time.
The statement said, “Dangote Refinery is grateful to President Bola Tinubu of the Federal Republic of Nigeria for his intervention, through his ministers and senior officials, which resulted in the relief of PENGASSAN’s disruptive actions against the refinery.”
The company claims that Nigeria’s security chiefs, led by National Security Adviser Nuhu Ribadu, Director General of the National Intelligence Agency Mr. Mohammed Mohammed, and Director General of the Department of State Services Mr. Adeola Ajayi, were among the important government officials who laboured “tirelessly” to restore normalcy.
“Other senior government officials who worked tirelessly and resolutely into the wee hours of several nights to avert the declared disruption of Nigeria’s energy sector by anarchists and agents of darkness,” the refinery added.
“We remain very grateful to these officials for their patriotism and national service,” the statement said, citing the following: Senator Abubakar Bagudu, Minister of Budget and Economic Planning; Dr. Mohammed Dingyadi, Minister of Labour and Employment; Mr. Wale Edun, Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy; and Hon. Nkeiruka Onyejeocha, Minister of State for Labour and Employment.
