Kogi West Senator, Sunday Karimi, has warned the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), to respect the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA). He said the union’s directive to withdraw services affecting the Dangote Refinery risks damaging the economy and deterring investors.
PENGASSAN’s General Secretary, Lumumba Okugbawa, on Saturday, ordered members working at field locations to withdraw services from 6 am on Sunday, September 28.
The directive covered control-room and panel operations, outfield personnel and other services across companies, agencies and institutions, and specifically called for the immediate suspension of processes involving crude and gas supply to the Dangote Refinery.
Karimi, in reaction, condemned the move as “economic sabotage.” He said the action revealed what he described as ulterior motives that threatened the oil sector.
Karimi released a statement, saying, “No investor will invest in any country where a union leader can easily destroy a multibillion-dollar private investment without cause. No serious nation will even allow such unions to survive.”
The senator urged the Federal Government and law enforcement agencies to intervene, arguing that the withdrawal of crude and gas supplies would cripple the $20 billion refinery and reverse gains towards self-sufficiency in fuel supply.
He stressed that despite reports of 800 disengaged workers, Dangote has said more than 3,000 Nigerians continue to work at the refinery, alongside numerous indirect employees, suppliers and contractors who depend on the plant.
Karimi compared the situation at the refinery with other privately run sectors where union activity is limited.
He stated that, after deregulation, several private investors discouraged unionism and introduced attractive compensation systems; as a result, unions such as NUBIFE lost influence in the financial sector.
He noted that when Chief Gabriel Igbinedion founded the first private university in 1988, he prohibited staff membership of ASUU, and that ASUU remains absent from Nigeria’s private universities to this day.
Union activity is also restricted or disallowed in other industries such as aviation, tourism and electricity, where private investors are dominant.
“An employer has the right to refuse the existence of trade unions in their businesses, and a staff member has the right to walk away from any employer who doesn’t want unionism,” Karimi said.
The senator further pointed to past resistance by unions to private-sector involvement in refining.
He said when former President Olusegun Obasanjo wanted to sell the moribund Port Harcourt refinery in 2007 and Aliko Dangote agreed to buy it, unions and labour groups opposed the sale, prompting Dangote to build his own facility instead.
Karimi compared the privately built refinery with government-owned refineries that have continued to incur huge maintenance costs.
He accused some unions of continuing to profit from levies and dues while members work in or benefit from moribund state plants.
PENGASSAN’s directive has drawn strong criticism from politicians and sections of the public on Nigerian social media space, as fuel queues gradually returns nationwide, limiting economic activities.
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