‘To protect investments’ — reps to meet Dangote refinery, PENGASSAN after labour dispute

The house of representatives has resolved to intervene in the dispute between the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) and Dangote refinery.

The lower chamber passed the resolution during Tuesday’s plenary after adopting a motion jointly sponsored by Ado Doguwa of the All Progressives Congress (APC) from Kano, and Abdussamad Dasuki of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) from Sokoto.

PENGASSAN and Dangote refinery have been embroiled in a labour dispute, which led to a strike that temporarily paralysed the downstream sector.

The strike was suspended on October 1.

Moving the motion, Doguwa said the disruption resulted in the loss of approximately 200,000 barrels over three days.

“The disruption worsened the fuel supply situation across the country, resulting in scarcity and long queues at filling stations in several states, thereby causing severe hardship for ordinary Nigerians,” Doguwa said.

He said the Dangote refinery is a “strategic private investment of immense national importance,” with the potential to guarantee energy security, reduce import dependency, generate employment, and conserve foreign exchange.

Doguwa noted that the Dangote refinery operates within a free trade zone, and falls under the regulatory framework of the Nigeria Export Processing Zones Authority (NEPZA), particularly section 18(5) of the Nigeria Export Processing Zones Act which states employment in the free zone shall be governed by rules and regulations made by the authority and not subject to the provisions of any enactments relating to employment matters.

The lawmaker said labour union actions that disregard the legal protections conferred on free zones under the NEPZA Act not only constitute a breach of law but also create a hostile investment environment that may deter future local and foreign investors.

Doguwa said if private investments of strategic national importance are continually subjected to unlawful disruptions by adversarial unionism, Nigeria risks the failure of key economic assets and the erosion of investor confidence necessary for national growth and development.

Lawmakers voted in support of the motion when it was put to a voice vote by Benjamin Kalu, the deputy speaker of the house.

Consequently, the house mandated the leadership to be led by Tajudeen Abbas, speaker of the house, to meet with Dangote refinery and PENGASSAN to resolve the dispute.