Dangote slams PENGASSAN, TUC: You’re after check-off dues, not workers’ welfare

Dangote Petroleum Refinery has accused the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) of prioritising union dues and personal interests over workers’ welfare, following fresh calls by the unions for industrial action.

In a statement made available to The Star on Tuesday, September 30, 2025, Dangote refinery described the TUC as “zombie-like” for declaring “full solidarity” with PENGASSAN and threatening a nationwide strike against its management, without making any effort to verify the claims on which the action was based.

The refinery stated: “We are told that he who hears only from one side and passes judgment without hearing the other side is a fool.

“Unfortunately, the Trade Union Congress has placed itself in that position. Without hearing from Dangote Refinery, the Congress has passed a guilty verdict on the Refinery’s management and now parrots the PENGASSAN line, zombie-like, calling ‘for a national industrial action if Dangote management fails to comply with’ its demands.”

Dangote refinery also accused the unions of being driven solely by the desire to secure check-off dues.

The company cited comments by PENGASSAN President Festus Osifo, who, in a recent interview with Channels Television, stated that the union had written to Dangote refinery to begin remitting dues the day after workers allegedly unionised.

Dangote refinery dismissed both unions as self-serving and controlled by “oligarchs”, insisting that their real agenda is not the protection of workers but the preservation of their financial interests.

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The company added: “PENGASSAN and TUC are two peas in a pod. They are twins from the same womb. Their interests do not extend beyond themselves and the oligarchs that run their affairs.

“The monthly check-off dues and other subscriptions and scams that feed their lifestyles are the primary concern and interests of these oligarchs. At least, one of them, Festus Osifo, President of PENGASSAN, admitted that much on national television very recently.”

Dangote refinery further alleged that neither PENGASSAN, TUC, nor allied unions such as NUPENG have offered accountability for the funds collected from workers. Instead, it accused them of funding “lavish and opulent lifestyles”.

“Meanwhile, none of these Unions – PENGASSAN, TUC, NUPENG, and its other unnamed co-travellers – bothers to give an account to their members and the Nigerian public of these monthly check-off dues. We only see the proof of these check-off dues’ payments in their lavish and opulent lifestyles. It is time Nigerians stood up against these enemies of progress,” the refinery stated.

The refinery called on the federal government to resist what it described as attempts by union leaders to return Nigeria to “the dark ages” of energy insecurity and industrial sabotage.

“Dangote Refinery is a national asset that requires our collective protection and prayers. To paraphrase the TUC Press Release, TUC and its cohorts, ‘regardless of size or wealth’ must not ‘be allowed to trample on the dignity and rights of’ 230 million Nigerians,” it added.

The Star