The Federal Government has stepped into the escalating industrial dispute between the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) and Dangote Refinery, convening an emergency meeting for Monday, September 29, 2025.

Minister of Labour and Employment, Maigari Dingyadi, announced the intervention in a statement on Sunday, urging PENGASSAN to suspend its planned nationwide strike scheduled to begin the same day.

According to the minister, the Ministry has initiated conciliation efforts by inviting the leadership of PENGASSAN and management of Dangote Refinery to his office in Abuja.

“I appeal to both parties to be mindful of the importance of the petroleum sector to the country, being the core of her economy. A strike will not only lead to heavy revenue losses by the country but also cause more hardship and difficulties for Nigerians,” Dingyadi warned. “Consequentially, it will have adverse impacts, both on economic stability and national security.”

The minister assured that the Federal Government is committed to resolving the dispute amicably and in the national interest.

PENGASSAN, in a letter signed by its General Secretary, Lumumba Okugbawa, had earlier directed members nationwide to withdraw their services effective 00:01 a.m. on Monday. The union accused Dangote Refinery of sacking over 800 Nigerian workers for joining PENGASSAN and replacing them with more than 2,000 foreign nationals, mainly Indians.

The association described the move as an affront to Nigerian workers and a violation of labour laws, the Constitution, and international conventions.

“Dangote Refinery’s notoriety for enslaving Nigerian workers, and the eventual sack of all Nigerians working in the refinery and hiring of over 2,000 Indians, is a show of disloyalty to a country that has given him the most incentives any company has ever enjoyed in Nigeria, at taxpayers’ expense,” the union stated.

It added that all gas and crude supply to the refinery should be halted immediately, with international oil companies directed to ramp down production linked to the facility.

The union further called on authorities to “rein in Dangote and his co-travelers on the need to obey the laws of our country.”