Former President of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), Brown Ogbeifun, has accused Dangote Refinery of disregarding workers’ dignity following the reported sacking of hundreds of employees.
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“What we are seeing today is that we are seeing an organisation that has no respect for workers’ dignity,” he said while speaking on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief.
He questioned the timing of the reported layoff, saying it coincided with unresolved unionisation issues between PENGASSAN and the refinery.
“What I heard was that there was a reorganisation in Dangote Refinery that led to the sack of 800 workers. The question is: Why now? Why after unionisation?
“That’s the main question. Dangote organisation is known to be unfriendly to unionisation,” he said.
Ogbeifun aruged that while employers reserve the right to hire and fire, such powers were not absolute and must follow due process.
“This is a present-day generation, and you cannot therefore wish away the dignity of workers. You must preserve their human dignity,” he added.
The former PENGASSAN president further said that the issue was not about the unions alone, but about respect for human rights in business practices.
Ogbeifun also raised concerns about the Dangote Group’s alleged dominance in various sectors.
“Why must Dangote organisation bully everyone out of business? They did it in sugar, they did it in cement. Must we build a monopoly around Dangote organisations?” he asked.
His comments amid the industrial dispute between PENGASSAN and the Dangote Refinery over the unionisation of workers and the disengagement of Nigerian workers by the company.
The union declared a nationwide strike over what it described as anti-labour practices by the private refinery.
But the Dangote refinery dismissed the claims, explaining that it carried out a reorganisation to forestall cases of sabotage, improve efficiency, and protect workers.
