The Fair Employment Rights Activists (FERA) has taken a swipe at the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) over what it called “fraudulent and hypocritical” allegations against the $20 billion Dangote Petroleum Refinery.
PENGASSAN had accused the refinery of sacking more than 800 Nigerian workers and replacing them with about 2,000 undocumented Indian nationals — a claim that has sparked public outrage and renewed scrutiny of the company’s labour practices.
However, FERA claims those allegations are unfounded. In a statement issued on Saturday, the group’s president, Comrade Ebikeme Adigio, said an independent fact-finding mission found no evidence to support the union’s claims.
“Our investigation revealed that expatriates at Dangote Refinery are fully documented, properly accredited, and engaged for specialised roles,” Adigio said. “There is no proof that Nigerian workers were unlawfully replaced. On the contrary, the refinery has directly and indirectly created more than one million jobs in less than a year — a fact PENGASSAN doesn’t want Nigerians to know.”
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FERA also accused PENGASSAN’s leadership of lacking the moral standing to criticise the refinery, pointing to the union’s history of failure in the oil and gas sector.
“Osifo and Okugbawa represent the same structure that supervised the waste of over $4 billion on failed turnaround maintenance at Port Harcourt, Warri, and Kaduna refineries,” Adigio alleged. “For decades, they watched as the refineries collapsed, workers were retrenched, and subsidy fraud drained the economy. Now they want to act like saints? It’s hypocrisy.”
The group went further, alleging that some union officials personally benefited from the subsidy regime through political patronage and appointments.
Blackmail, not workers’ welfare
FERA insists that the real motive behind PENGASSAN’s criticism is not the welfare of workers but a desperate attempt to protect entrenched interests and maintain control over the oil sector.
“Their agitation is not about workers. It’s about losing power over a sector they have weaponised for decades,” FERA said. “The union collects 3% of every oil worker’s salary in Nigeria but has never built even a small modular refinery. If they truly care about employment, they should buy the moribund Port Harcourt refinery and prove they can manage it.”
The group praised the refinery for its contribution to job creation and economic transformation, citing the rollout of 8,000 compressed natural gas (CNG) buses, which it claimed created 16,000 jobs in a single day.
“Dangote Refinery should be celebrated, not vilified,” Adigio said. “It’s breaking the grip of subsidy cartels and creating opportunities on a scale Nigeria has never seen.”
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FERA also criticised PENGASSAN’s threat to cut gas and crude supply to the refinery, describing it as “economic sabotage” and urging government and regulators to protect the project from vested interests.
“The truth is simple: PENGASSAN is angry because the party is over,” the group added. “If they’re serious about job creation, let them revive the Kaduna, Warri, and Port Harcourt refineries. Until then, they should stop blackmailing an investor who’s doing what government and unions failed to do for decades.”
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