NEWS: OSHIOMHOLE CRITICIZES PENGASSAN FOR DANGOTE RIFT.

Senator Adams Oshiomhole, former President of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), has criticized the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) for escalating the dispute with Dangote Refinery. Oshiomhole faulted PENGASSAN’s decision to shut down facilities of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) and other firms, describing it as “ill-considered” and unfair to other workers.
PENGASSAN ordered its members to withdraw their services, leading to the closure of NNPC, Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, and Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority offices.
He argued that while unions have the right to defend workers, they must do so in ways that don’t create wider economic hardship. He emphasized that disputes should be directed at the specific employer involved.
“In pursuing war, you have to recognise that the tools you deploy must not hurt innocent people, like the tomato sellers who cannot get fuel to move their goods because there is a quarrel between one refinery and one union,” he said.
The shutdown triggered fuel queues across several states, drawing criticism from government officials and industry players who warned it could worsen Nigeria’s energy supply chain.
“I suddenly witnessed long queues at filling stations and people came to me to ask, ‘why are we not at work today, what has happened to the oil industry?’ And the reason was that PENGASSAN had decided that NNPC be shut down, several other companies shut down, all because of a problem in one refinery”.