The Dangote Group has decided to redeploy refinery engineers recently dismissed over their involvement with the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) to other subsidiaries within the conglomerate, including its sugar and cement businesses, Africa Today News, New York, has learnt.
Sources within the Dangote Refinery, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter, said the redeployment plan followed intervention by the Federal Government after the workers’ union shut down several oil and gas installations in protest.
According to the sources, the decision is a compromise meant to calm tensions after PENGASSAN accused the company of sacking about 800 refinery staff for joining the union. The Dangote Group, however, maintained that only a few employees were dismissed and that those affected were involved in acts of sabotage against the multibillion-dollar refinery.
“The management had no problem with unionisation,” said one senior official familiar with the talks. “But leaking sensitive operational information to hostile interests is a serious breach. Still, the company has decided to move forward by redeploying the affected engineers rather than losing their expertise entirely.”
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The group plans to recruit new engineers to fill vacant refinery roles while some dismissed personnel will be reassigned to Dangote operations abroad or other local facilities.
Insiders described the shake-up as a “major setback” for the refinery, noting that many of the affected engineers were part of the pioneering Nigerian team trained overseas to commission the refinery.
“These are not just regular hires,” one engineer said. “They were sent abroad for months of technical training and became integral to the refinery’s launch. The experience they gained is priceless—no classroom can replicate that.”
The official added that retraining new hires would take significant time and resources, especially given the skill gap among local graduates. “A refinery is not a trial-and-error operation. You can’t afford missteps,” he said.
The dispute began after refinery employees volunteered to join PENGASSAN, prompting a nationwide three-day strike that disrupted oil production and briefly reduced power generation. The Federal Government’s intervention helped end the standoff, with directives that the company explore options short of outright dismissal.
Industry watchers say the redeployment marks a pragmatic middle ground—preserving the company’s authority while preventing the loss of technical talent it invested heavily in developing.
Interestingly, sources also disclosed that foreign firms had shown interest in hiring some of the sacked engineers due to their rare hands-on experience with refinery commissioning—an exposure still uncommon among Nigerian professionals.