PENGASSAN’S STRIKE, A GUERRILA TACTICS TO HOLD NIGERIANS TO RANSOME-DANGOTE

…Challenges PENGASSAN, NUPENG to publish audited account of members dues

The administration of Dangote Petroleum Refinery yesterday described the declaration of strike by Petroleum and Pure Gasoline Senior Employees Affiliation (PENGASSAN) as a bully and guerrilla techniques meant to carry Nigerians to ransom for egocentric agenda.

Dismissing as tissues of lies, the claims of mass sack made PENGASSAN in its assertion on Saturday evening upon which it premised the decision on its members to embark on strike, Dangote Refinery stated what the Affiliation has embarked upon is tantamount to behave of terror.

Whereas highlighting the doable penalties of the strike on hapless Nigerians, Dangote Refinery administration in an announcement titled “Lawless PENGASSAN: Its lies and Terror Ways”, stated PENGASSAN couldn’t justify its determination to carry over 230 million Nigerians to ransom by chopping off their important provides of petroleum merchandise–kerosene, cooking fuel, petrol, diesel, aviation gasoline, amongst others.

It acknowledged that the resolve by the Affiliation to bully techniques couldn’t justify the risk to the lives of individuals, together with infants and aged individuals, who want the petroleum merchandise and attendant requirements for his or her life-support programs within the hospitals, in care houses, and the Nigerian staff whose lives and livelihood are to be put in danger with the strike.

Dangote Refinery administration due to this fact referred to as on the Federal Authorities and its companies, in addition to all Nigerians, to stare down PENGASSAN and put a cease to the machinations and blackmail techniques of its oligarchs and sponsors.

“Assuming that there are Dangote Refinery staff or ex-workers who’re affronted by or aggrieved over the group’s selections, they certainly have cures that they will pursue in accordance with their employment contracts. PENGASSAN mustn’t and should not be allowed to incite these staff or ex-employees neither ought to it interpose itself between them and Dangote Refinery. PENGASSAN’s terrorist techniques have to be defeated by the Nigerian individuals. It’s in our curiosity to so do.

“PENGASSAN should not be allowed to persist in its bullying techniques in opposition to Nigerians. The Nigerian safety and legislation enforcement companies should present safety for the Nigerian staff within the oil and fuel sector – all of the services, installations and workplaces – to allow them to proceed to offer their important providers to the Nigerian nation with out let or hindrance by or from PENGASSAN and its co-travelers”, the refinery administration acknowledged.

The assertion learn “In our launch, we identified that “over 3,000 Nigerians proceed to work actively in our Petroleum Refinery” and that “we proceed to recruit Nigerian expertise by way of our varied graduate trainee applications and skilled rent recruitment course of”. PENGASSAN has not joined points with us on these factual assertions; fairly it continues to hawk the falsehood that Dangote Refinery has sacked “all Nigerians working within the refinery and” presumably employed “over 2,000 Indians” to exchange them. That’s full falsehood. We additionally acknowledged within the launch that there’s an “on-going reorganization inside” the Dangote Refinery which has resulted within the discharge of “a really small variety of employees” and that the “train isn’t arbitrary” however is being carried out “in the perfect curiosity of the Refinery”.

“These information haven’t been rebutted by PENGASSAN neither has its oligarchs tried to fulfill with Dangote Refinery to confirm the reality. Somewhat it continues to hawk the falsehood that now we have sacked “over 800 members” of PENGASSAN “for becoming a member of PENGASSAN”. Assuming that was a truth, which it isn’t, would that justify the phobia and guerrilla techniques that the Affiliation is now unleashing on Nigerians? Would that justify holding over 230 million Nigerians to ransom by chopping off their important provides of petroleum merchandise – kerosene, cooking fuel, petrol, diesel, aviation gasoline, amongst others? Would that justify threatening the lives of individuals, together with infants and aged individuals, who want the petroleum merchandise and attendant requirements for his or her life-support programs within the hospitals, in care houses, and many others. Would that justify the bully techniques of placing the livelihoods of Nigerian staff – the very folks that PENGASSAN falsely professes to signify – and their prolonged dependents, in danger? And after we discuss Nigerian staff whose livelihoods are in danger, this goes nicely past the employees of Dangote Refinery and encompasses all Nigerian staff, together with all the PENGASSAN members “throughout all workplaces, firms, establishments, and companies” who’re being commanded by the Affiliation’s fiat, to down instruments just because the oligarchs inside the Affiliation imagine it’s fanciful to chop their noses to spite Dangote Refinery.

“This can be a bully tactic that the Nigerian State and folks should not succumb to or permit. Because the Affiliation rightly identified in its Launch, “no man or firm” – and we should add, or Affiliation, be it PENGASSAN or another – “regardless of how extremely positioned” or entrenched, “is above the legislation and can’t be referred to as to order by the nationwide establishments”. The oligarchs in PENGASSAN have proved themselves to be terrorists and have turned the Affiliation right into a bully group. It’s time they be referred to as to order. Certainly, over time, the Affiliation has constantly proved itself as serving pursuits apart from these of Nigerians and Nigerian staff, and some illustrative examples would suffice:

“When in 2007 the Federal Authorities bought its moribund refineries in Port Harcourt and Kaduna to Blue Star Consortium led by Dangote Group at US$750million, it was this similar bully Affiliation, PENGASSAN and its co-travelers considered one of whom is the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Pure Gasoline Employees (“NUPENG”) that vociferously sabotaged the method. It’s now apparent to everybody that the FGN’s determination on the time was the precise one and that PENGASSAN and NUPENG ignominiously wrote their names on the improper pages of historical past. (See Annexures 1 and a pair of)

“Extra lately, PENGASSAN with its co-travelers loudly celebrated the purported rehabilitation of the Port Harcourt Refinery. Nigerians now know that the purported rehabilitation was a ruse and that PENGASSAN was knowingly celebrating a rip-off on Nigerians. PENGASSAN has additionally been within the forefront of opposing the modification of the Petroleum Trade Act, 2021 in a way that will permit the Federal Authorities to restructure the fairness holdings of a few of its upstream Joint Enterprise property and thereby present much-needed liquidity for the Authorities whereas injecting private-sector funding and experience for the administration of the property. That is paying homage to the inglorious function of the identical PENGASSAN and its allies in aborting the sale of the Port Harcourt and Kaduna refineries in 2007.

“Dangote Group is the best employer of labor in Nigeria and the best contributor to the tax revenues of Nigeria and its sub-nationals. What comparable social duty has PENGASSAN, with its billions of Naira in month-to-month check-off dues and subscriptions, lived as much as? Can it publish publicly its account for the final 10 years and record out its company duty actions inside that timeframe?

“Dangote Refinery is a nationwide asset that have to be protected by the Nigerian State and its individuals. It should not be threatened by the PENGASSAN oligarchs and their co-travelers. The threatened motion by the Affiliation in opposition to Dangote Refinery threatens the financial restoration and vitality safety of Nigeria. We should not permit the Affiliation and its co-conspirators to sabotage and imperil the financial restoration and vitality safety of the nation. The financial restoration of Nigeria should not be derailed and/or reversed by PENGASSAN. To paraphrase the perverted and abused sayings of the Affiliation, no Affiliation, not even PENGASSAN, “is larger than our nation”. “An damage” to Dangote Refinery by PENGASSAN, “is an damage to all”.

“We conclude by reasserting the opacity and lack of transparency within the operations of PENGASSAN as evident in its failure or incapability to publish its audited accounts through the years. Why has the watchdog which the Affiliation and its associate, NUPENG, profess to be, failed these a number of years to publish their respective audited accounts and be accountable to their members and the Nigerian individuals?

“We problem each PENGASSAN and NUPENG to publish for the Nigerian public, inside 7 (seven) days of this publication, their respective 10 (ten) years audited accounts, failing which they need to completely bury their heads in disgrace.”