Shettima: PENGASSAN shouldn’t have held Nigeria to ransom over minor labour dispute

Vice-President Kashim Shettima says it was unnecessary for the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) to hold the nation to ransom over “a minor labour dispute”.

Shettima spoke on Monday at the 31st Nigerian Economic Summit (NES) of the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) held in Abuja.

On September 28, PENGASSAN commenced a nationwide strike over the dismissal of Nigerian workers by Dangote refinery.

On October 1, PENGASSAN suspended the strike after Dangote Group, the parent company of the refinery, agreed to redeploy the sacked workers.

Faulting the association’s move, the vice-president said Aliko Dangote, president of the Dangote Group, is not an individual but an institution.

He added Dangote is “a leading light in Nigeria’s economic parliament”.

“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,” Shettima said.

“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 Pingas and Nigeria is greater than each and every one of us.”

Speaking further, the vice-president emphasised that he was not acting out of partisanship, but as a “patriot in search of solutions to our national challenges”.

He emphasised that in the interest of improving the nation’s fortunes, the government was tasking the NESG with taking more than a passing interest in the matter.

“The government will expect priority recommendations from the NESG in addressing this issue even as the government is also taking steps to protect big industry and ensuring industrial harmony for the good of the nation. This is a refinery, Your Excellencies, Your Royal Highnesses, Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen,” Shettima said.

The vice-president reiterated that the refinery project was financed through a mix of equity investments, debt financing, and loans obtained from both local and foreign banks.

Consequently, he said the refinery has to function to salvage the debt and “we cannot hold the whole nation to ransom for some issues that we can amicably settle across the table”.

Shettima said his stance “reflects the true position of President Bola Tinubu” and “the Nigerian people”.

On October 2, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, on projected revenue losses due to the suspended strike by the PENGASSAN, resulting from deferred production, missed liftings, and reduced gas sale.

Earlier on Monday, Bayo Ojulari, group chief executive officer (GCEO), NNPC, said the recent rise in the price of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), popularly known as cooking gas, was also linked to the recent strike by PENGASSAN.