Former President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and current senator representing Edo North, Adams Oshiomhole, has criticised the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) for escalating its rift with the Dangote Refinery into a full-scale nationwide shutdown of oil facilities. He described the action as rash and harmful to the wider economy.
Speaking on Arise Television on Friday, Oshiomhole emphasised that although unions are constitutionally empowered to protect workers’ rights, such actions must not jeopardise the livelihoods of other employees or destabilise Nigeria’s fragile energy sector.
“I think that in seeking to protect a particular set of workers, you do not then risk the jobs of several other workers. When you are pursuing a dispute, the tools you deploy must be such that they do not undermine other people’s jobs,” he stated.
He noted that the decision by PENGASSAN to compel the shutdown of Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) operations and other oil firms due to grievances at a single refinery was unjustified.
“I suddenly witnessed long queues at filling stations and people came to me to ask, ‘why are we not at work today, what has happened to the oil industry?’ And the reason was that PENGASSAN had decided that NNPC be shut down, several other companies shut down, all because of a problem in one refinery,” Oshiomhole explained.
Drawing from his tenure as NLC president, he recalled:
“We had a big battle with Union Bank of Nigeria over their policy on married couples working together. But even when we had the capacity to shut down all the banks, we didn’t. We recognised that the alleged offence of Union Bank could not be said to apply to others.”
Oshiomhole warned that labour actions must avoid hurting innocent citizens, including small business owners.
“In pursuing war, you have to recognise that the tools you deploy must not hurt innocent people, like the tomato sellers who cannot get fuel to move their goods because there is a quarrel between one refinery and one union,” he said.
He stressed the need for balance between labour freedoms and responsibilities.
“Freedom of association is not just a constitutional right, it is a God-given right. But with that freedom comes responsibility, both the employer and employee must exercise their rights in a way that is fair,” Oshiomhole added.
The senator also urged patience towards new investors like the Dangote Refinery, inaugurated in May 2023 by former President Muhammadu Buhari with a 650,000-barrels-per-day capacity, describing it as the largest single-train refinery in Africa.
“An employer has to exist, mature and be strong enough to guarantee good-paying jobs. If you cripple a business before it even finds its feet, you are also destroying the jobs you claim to protect,” he warned.
The industrial action ordered by PENGASSAN last month led to fuel queues across several Nigerian states, drawing criticism from government officials and stakeholders.
okay.ng reports that Oshiomhole’s intervention comes at a critical time when Nigeria’s energy sector is struggling to stabilise supply chains.
