Following the recent industrial dispute with the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), the Dangote Refinery has reinstated several engineers who were earlier dismissed. The affected personnel, including graduate trainees, have been issued new employment and redeployment letters assigning them to various Dangote projects across the country.
The redeployed staff are being posted to project sites in Borno, Zamfara, Benue, Ebonyi, Kebbi, Niger, and Sokoto States.
One of the letters obtained, titled “Offer of Trainee Engagement” and issued under Dangote Projects Limited, confirmed the reinstatement of an engineer as a Mechanical Engineering Trainee for a coal development project in Okpokwu, Benue State.
“Based on your performance during the assessment and subsequent interviews, we are pleased to engage you as Engineer Trainee (Mechanical Engineering). You will undergo two years of classroom and practical training designed to prepare you for a position of responsibility within the organisation.”
The letter, signed by Femi Adekunle, Chief General Manager of Human Asset Management, also noted that either party may terminate the engagement by giving one month’s notice or paying one month’s salary in lieu.
Some of the reinstated engineers have raised concerns about security risks in some of the assigned states and the absence of specific reporting details.
“There is no clear office address provided. Some of the deployment locations are volatile. If we fail to resume within 14 days, we risk losing the job again,” one engineer stated, adding that PENGASSAN has urged them not to accept the postings until further discussions are concluded.
A senior official of the Dangote Group clarified that the redeployment aligns with the agreement reached with PENGASSAN, which involves relocating affected workers to other subsidiaries of the conglomerate within dispute began after the refinery allegedly terminated the employment of hundreds of workers for joining the union. However, the Dangote Group maintained that only individuals involved in activities that threatened operations were removed as part of an internal reorganisation.
PENGASSAN responded with a nationwide shutdown of critical oil and gas facilities, leading to federal government intervention. The government subsequently directed the company to reinstate or redeploy the affected staff.
Group President Aliko Dangote recently disclosed plans to increase the refinery’s production capacity from 650,000 barrels per day to 1.4 million barrels per day. According to him, the expansion will create an estimated 65,000 new construction jobs, potentially providing additional opportunities for the redeployed workers.
While Dangote Group insists the redeployment is a strategic restructuring process, some engineers argue they are being victimised for participating in union activities — a claim the company has consistently refuted.
