The Vice President, Senator Kashim Shettima, descended hard on the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), on Monday, over the disruption they caused in the nation’s economy as a result of their recent industrial dispute with the Dangote Refinery.
While speaking at the 31st Nigerian Economic Summit (NES) held in Abuja, Shettima denounced the action by PENGASSAN, declaring that it was absolutely unnecessary for the members of the union to hold the country to ransom over “a minor labour dispute”.
The Vice President declared categorically that the 650,000-barrel-per-day Dangote Refinery was critically important to Nigeria and must be supported to succeed at all costs.
The Crest recalls that PENGASSAN and its members defied all entreaties to sheathe their sword over the dismissal of Nigerian workers by Dangote refinery. Instead, they began a nationwide strike on September 28, 2025.
Though they called off the action a few days later after Dangote Group, the parent company of the refinery, agreed to reabsorb but redeploy the sacked workers to other subsidiaries.
The country is still grappling with the ripple effects of the action with the price of cooking gas hitting the roof.
On Monday, at the Nigerian Economic Summit, the Vice President faulted the union’s move, saying Chairman of Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, is an institution and not just an individual that should be tossed back and forth.
Shettima described Dangote as “a leading light in Nigeria’s economic firmament”, adding: that Nigerians owe it to future generations to jealously protect, promote, preserve, and project the interests of this great Nigeria…”
He continued; “And how we treat this gentleman will determine how outsiders will judge us. If he had invested $10 billion in Microsoft, in Amazon, in Google, probably he might be worth $70 to $80 billion by now. But he opted to invest in his country and we owe it to future generations to jealously protect, promote, preserve, and project the interests of this great Nigeria…
“I wish to call for caution, retrospection and a deeper sense of patriotism from both the labour and the organised private sector in defining and improving the relationship between labour and industry in the interest of maintaining our steadily improving economic fortunes.
“It’s not about holding the whole nation to ransom because of a minor labour dispute. Nigeria is greater than PENGASSAN and Nigeria is greater than each and every one of us.”
Shettima, however, emphasized that he was not playing politics with his honest reaction to the face-off between Dangote Refinery and PENGASSAN, stressing that he was only speaking as a “patriot in search of solutions to our national challenges”.
