The Dangote Refinery and Petrochemicals, has stated that the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) has no legal backing to cut off gas supply to its refinery.
This was the reaction by the Management of the Dangote refinery to the earlier directive given by the PENGASSAN to its members to stop gas supply to the refinery, following the sack of over 800 workers.
While describing the directive as lawless, the Management of the refinery said: “There is also no law in our statute books that would support or enable the PENGASSAN branches having to “cut off” gas and crude oil supplies to Dangote Refinery.
“Besides, it constitutes a criminal conduct for PENGASSAN or its members to disrupt and/or interfere howsoever in the contract between Dangote Refinery and its various vendors for the supply of gas and crude oil to the Refinery.
“Those supply contracts were not entered into with PENGASSAN; they were entered into by Dangote Refinery with third party vendors and suppliers and PENGASSAN has no right whatsoever to disrupt and/or interfere with the performance of those contracts.
“Perhaps, PENGASSAN needs to be reminded that Nigeria is a country governed by laws. Our laws do not brook self-help and mob action that could introduce mayhem and chaos and easily translate into anarchy.
“Indeed, this is a complete disavowal of PENGASSAN’s Press Release of the same 26 September 2025 which claimed that the Association “will take all necessary legal actions” to challenge the Dangote Refinery actions that it purports has led to its illicit and criminal “directive”.
“It is instructive that no sooner had the Association issued the Press Release than it abandoned the path of lawfulness and embraced criminal conduct and the path that leads to mayhem and anarchy by issuing the directive afore mentioned.
“Apart from the lawlessness and criminality inherent in the PENGASSAN instruction to its branches, the Association’s directive amounts to economic sabotage at multiple levels,” it said.
The refinery explained that by the directive, the products that would be disrupted and stopped include but are not limited to aviation fuel, petrol, kerosene, diesel and cooking gas-all products that are used and required by all stripes of Nigerians and persons living in Nigeria, whether high and mighty or lowly and ordinary.
“In what circumstance would it be justified for PENGASSAN to so disrupt and introduce insufferable hardship into the living conditions of Nigerians? None that we can see.
“This is also economic sabotage against the Nigerian State at multiple levels. Dangote Refinery is the only refinery of its type in Africa and ordinarily should be the pride of all Nigerians as well as the governments of Nigeria.
“It should ordinarily have special protection and status and indeed qualifies as a strategic national asset. An irreparable injury to the Dangote Refinery such as PENGASSAN has directed constitutes a national embarrassment to all of us.
“The directive is a disincentive to external investors who ordinarily would have been encouraged by the success of Dangote Refinery to contemplate investing in Nigeria’s oil and gas sector or generally.
“PENGASSAN may also not be aware that Dangote Refinery is one of the largest contributors to the revenue purse of the Nigerian governments – both Federal and sub-nationals. That contribution is currently threatened by PENGASSAN and would of course be paused if and as soon as and for as long as the PENGASSAN directive is implemented by its branches.
“We are, by this write-up, drawing the attention of the Federal Government and its security and law enforcement agencies-as well as all other levels of governments in Nigeria to this criminal, lawless, reckless and irresponsible conduct of PENGASSAN and calling on them – the Federal Government and its agencies, in particular to call the Association to order.
“PENGASSAN has no right to introduce anarchy and mayhem into our society. The Association is not above the law, and it must not be allowed to believe that it is or behave as if it is.
“We are also calling on all Nigerians to take note of the unquantifiable and irredeemable hardship which PENGASSAN wishes to inflict on all of us.
“There is no Nigerian household that does not use or need the petroleum products which PENGASSAN has now directed its branches, by fiat, to withdraw from the Nigerian market again, we list some of them: petrol, cooking gas, diesel, kerosene and aviation fuel.
“The production and supply of these products by Dangote Refinery would cease if the PENGASSAN cabal is allowed or permitted to enforce its lawless and criminal “directive”. The Association must not be allowed to ride roughshod on Nigerians. The repercussions from the PENGASSAN directive would affect and inflict harm on all Nigerians This is therefore a fight for all Nigerians.
“We all must encourage and nudge PENGASSAN to live up to the commitment in its Press Release of 26 September 2025, to wit, “take all necessary legal actions”-not illicit and criminal actions-to challenge the Dangote Refinery acts that it purports has led to its directive,” it said.
