The Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals has dismissed several members of staff in a sweeping reorganisation exercise, citing reported cases of sabotage in different refinery units that raised serious safety concerns.
Mr. Femi Adekunle, Chief General Manager of Human Asset Management at Dangote Group, confirmed the development in a document obtained by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Friday in Lagos.
He explained that the restructuring was prompted by multiple cases of sabotage across refinery units, which posed major safety risks.
According to him, management was left with no choice but to carry out a total overhaul of the refinery workforce, leading to the disengagement of the affected staff effective Thursday, September 25.
“The employees were told to give all company property to their line managers and obtain an exit clearance, with the specific date for the process to be communicated later,” Adekunle stated.
“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.”
While the number of affected workers was not disclosed, NAN gathered that the restructuring may be linked to the decision of many of the dismissed staff to join workers’ unions.
It would be recalled that the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), in solidarity with the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), had earlier threatened to shut down Dangote Refinery over management’s alleged refusal to allow tanker drivers and other employees to unionise.
PENGASSAN had expressed frustration over what it described as the refinery’s “persistent resistance to unionisation efforts,” stressing that “all diplomatic efforts had failed to resolve the issue.”
The union further warned that if the standoff continued, it would have no option but to “join NUPENG in shutting down refinery operations to protect workers’ rights and interests.”
