•Festus Osifo and Aliyu Dangote
The Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) has assured Nigerians that its proposed strike, scheduled for today, will not lead to petrol scarcity.
The union had directed its members nationwide to withdraw their services over the alleged mass dismissal of Nigerian workers by the Dangote Refinery.
The strike notice has, however, sparked public concern, with many Nigerians fearing it could trigger long queues at filling stations.
Speaking on Channels Television last night, PENGASSAN President Festus Osifo allayed such fears but confirmed that the union had shut down gas supply to the refineries.
“I want us to disaggregate what the effect would be. The effect, as of today, as of tomorrow, even by next weekend, is not going to dovetail into Nigerians queuing to buy PMS. It won’t dovetail into that,” Osifo said.
“Yes, as we speak, we have cut the supply of gas to the refineries, the fertilisers, and all that. Yes, we have done that because if someone says he is crazy, we are going to tell him that we are the goose that laid the golden egg — that we are much crazier.”
Shelve strike
Following PENGASSAN’s strike notice, the federal government urged the union to reconsider and shelve the plan.
Minister of Labour and Employment, Muhammad Dingyadi, who made this plea yesterday, said his Ministry has taken steps to bring both parties to a roundtable to stop their dispute from escalating further.
Dingyadi disclosed that invitations have been extended to both the leadership of PENGASSAN and Dangote Refinery management to attend an emergency meeting in his office on Monday for the conciliation of their dispute.
The Minister called on the leadership of PENGASSAN to withdraw the strike declaration to allow his Ministry to conciliate the dispute in a peaceful atmosphere.
‘We’ll attend meeting’
Speaking further on the programme last night, Osifo confirmed the invitation by the federal government for a conciliatory meeting with the Dangote Refinery.
He said the union would attend today’s meeting but maintained that PENGASSAN’s position remains the total recall of workers sacked by the Dangote Refinery.
“We have been called to a meeting tomorrow in the Federal Ministry of Labour and we are going to attend that meeting,” he said.
“Our position is very clear, you cannot send close to 1000 Nigerians to the streets like that because they are exercising their rights to unionise.”
Osifo urged the Nigerian government to call Dangote to order and make the company understand that Nigeria is not a banana republic.
