The management of Dangote Petroleum Refinery has terminated the employment of many of its workers amid the ongoing rift with the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) and Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG).
The oil unions and Dangote have been recently locked in a series of industrial face-offs over unionisation.
On September 9, 2025, Dangote and NUPENG signed a Memorandum of Understanding after a government-mediated meeting, affirming the refinery workers’ constitutional right to unionise.
However, hours after, the union accused the Dangote Group of bad faith for ordering truck drivers to strip off union stickers and report for loading.
The refinery management and the unions subsequently engaged in heated media exchanges.
In a leaked memo, Femi Adekunle, Chief General Manager of Human Asset Management, announced the “total re-organisation” at the refinery as a result of recent cases of reported sabotage in different units, leading to major safety concerns.
He said the refinery was constrained to carry out a total re-organisation of the plant.
“As a consequence of this development, we wish to inform you that your services are no longer required, with effect from the eve of Thursday, the 25th September, 2025.”
“Please surrender all the Company’s properties in your possession to your line manager and obtain an exit clearance accordingly but, the date for doing so, will be communicated to you later.
“The Finance Department, by a copy of this letter, is advised to compute all your benefits and entitlements in line with your terms of employment and conditions of service and pay the amount due to you (less all indebtedness), subject to the condition that you have obtained the exit clearance certificate as mentioned above,” the memo read.
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An insider at the refinery confirmed the authenticity of the memo but refused to go into details.
The source said the company was working on a statement to address the issue. However, as of the time of filing this report, the statement had not been released.
Festus Osifo, president of PENGASSAN, has assured those affected that the company would reverse the decision.
“Yes, it is true. We saw the latter late last night. I can assure you that they will recall all of them,” he was quoted to have told Daily Post.
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