After more than nine hours of intense negotiations, the high-level reconciliation meeting between the Federal Government, the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria, and the Dangote Group ended without resolution late Monday night.
The impasse leaves the fate of over 800 dismissed workers uncertain and the ongoing nationwide strike unresolved.
The meeting, convened by the Federal Government to forestall further disruptions in Nigeria’s energy sector, was attended by the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr. Wale Edun; Minister of Labour and Employment, Alhaji Muhammad Maigari Dingyadi; PENGASSAN executives led by President Comrade Festus Osifo; and top officials from the Dangote Group.
Speaking to journalists after the meeting, Comrade Osifo expressed disappointment over the failure to reach an agreement, maintaining that the union’s demand for the immediate reinstatement of the dismissed workers remains unchanged.
“We have been here for nine hours trying to find a solution. We’ve had numerous deliberations, even breaking into smaller teams to explore all possible resolutions, but unfortunately, there is no solution tonight,” he said.
Osifo described the dismissals as devastating, noting the toll on the affected workers and their families.
“All we want is justice for the over 800 people who were sacked. These people are fathers and mothers, and their careers are now at stake. When you terminate people the way they have been terminated, it becomes extremely difficult for them to find jobs anywhere,” he explained.
He further stated that some of those affected were trainees who had been accused of sabotage, a label that could have lasting consequences on their professional futures.
“If they go home like this, there is no other company in Nigeria that will employ them because they have been labeled saboteurs. These are careers that would be destroyed if a proper remedy is not put in place,” he stated.
Reiterating the union’s position, Osifo declared that the industrial action would persist until the workers were reinstated.
“Our position has been very clear: if you reinstate these people tonight, we will call off our action tonight. But, unfortunately, that reinstatement did not happen, and we were not able to reach a conclusion. So they have asked us to come back again by 2 p.m. today. We pray that God touches the heart of the capitalists, the hearts of the oppressors, to call our people back to work. Until then, the strike continues,” he said.
Osifo also confirmed that the Dangote Group had acknowledged the dismissals, with termination letters already in circulation.
“Dangote Group agreed that they dismissed 800 people, and the reason was stated in the letters. It cannot be falsehood because the letters are already in the media. What they stated is already public, and it was signed in a communication they released last Thursday,” he added.
Presiding over the meeting, Labour Minister Muhammad Maigari Dingyadi confirmed that while progress had been made, the reinstatement of the workers remained the key obstacle to a full resolution.
“We have agreed to reconvene today in the afternoon to continue the meeting,” Dingyadi stated.
“The reinstatement of the sacked workers is the only issue we are on. Apart from that, nothing else is lingering. We have made a lot of progress, the two main issues are unionization and the reinstatement of the workers,” he added.
Also speaking, Finance Minister Wale Edun emphasized the broader economic implications of the deadlock, warning that the strike could derail the country’s economic progress.
“What is utmost in the minds of everybody: the public, the government, investors, and economic actors generally, is that we need to limit the danger of this action to the economy,” Edun said.
“We need to wrap it up, resolve it, and get workers back to work. We need gas flowing, we need crude flowing as input into production, which is critical to where the economy is right now. We don’t want that momentum to be broken, and that is why we were here for nine hours trying to resolve this issue. We are optimistic that later today we will be able to break the deadlock, resolve it, and put this behind us so the Nigerian economy can move forward,” he added.
The nationwide strike, declared by PENGASSAN in response to the mass dismissals at the Dangote Petroleum Refinery, has already begun to impact operations across key sectors. The union has vowed to continue industrial action until all affected workers are reinstated, raising concerns about potential fuel shortages and disruptions in gas supply across the country.
