Vice President Kashim Shettima on Monday faulted the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) for embarking on a nationwide strike over what he described as a “minor labour dispute,” warning that such actions threaten Nigeria’s fragile economy.
Shettima, who spoke at the 31st Nigerian Economic Summit (NES) in Abuja, said it was unnecessary for the oil workers’ union to “hold the whole nation to ransom” following the dismissal of some Nigerian staff by Dangote Refinery.
PENGASSAN had on September 28 declared an indefinite strike to protest the sackings but later suspended the action on October 1 after the Dangote Group agreed to redeploy the affected workers.
The vice president, however, insisted that the industrial action was ill-timed and harmful to Nigeria’s economic recovery efforts.
“Nigeria is greater than PENGASSAN and greater than each and every one of us. It is not about holding the whole nation to ransom because of a minor labour dispute,” Shettima said.
The vice president described Alhaji Aliko Dangote, president of Dangote Group, as more than an entrepreneur but “an institution and a leading light in Nigeria’s economic parliament.”
He added: “If he had invested $10 billion in Microsoft, Amazon or Google, he might be worth $70 to $80 billion today. But he chose to invest in Nigeria, and we owe it to future generations to protect and promote the interests of this great country.”
Shettima urged labour leaders and the organised private sector to embrace patriotism and dialogue in resolving disputes, stressing that government expects constructive recommendations from the Nigerian Economic Summit Group on how to foster industrial harmony.
He also explained that the refinery project was financed through a mix of equity, debt and loans from both local and foreign lenders, noting that the facility must function effectively to service those debts.
“We cannot afford to cripple such a critical project. Issues like this should be settled amicably across the table,” he maintained.
Shettima said his position reflected that of President Bola Tinubu, insisting that the administration would continue to protect large-scale investments while working to safeguard workers’ welfare.
Meanwhile, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited had last week disclosed that the PENGASSAN strike led to revenue losses through deferred production, missed crude liftings and reduced gas sales.
Bayo Ojulari, Group Chief Executive Officer of NNPC, also linked the recent hike in the price of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), commonly called cooking gas, to the strike
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