Strike Won’t Cause Fuel Scarcity – PENGASSAN President
The Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) has assured Nigerians that its planned strike, scheduled to commence on Monday, will not result in petrol scarcity.
The union had earlier directed its members nationwide to withdraw their services over the alleged mass dismissal of Nigerian workers by the Dangote Refinery. The strike notice, however, has sparked public anxiety, with fears it could trigger long queues at filling stations.
Speaking on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics, PENGASSAN President, Festus Osifo, allayed such fears but confirmed that the union had already cut gas supply to refineries and fertilizer plants.
“I want us to disaggregate what the effect would be. The effect, as of today, as of tomorrow, even by next weekend, is not going to dovetail into Nigerians queuing to buy PMS. It won’t dovetail into that,” Osifo said.
“Yes, as we speak, we have cut the supply of gas to the refineries, the fertilizers, and all that. Yes, we have done that because if someone says he is crazy, we are going to tell him that we are the goose that laid the golden egg, that we are much crazier.”
In response to the strike notice, the Federal Government appealed to the union to reconsider its decision. Minister of Labour and Employment, Muhammad Dingyadi, disclosed that his ministry had taken steps to avert escalation by summoning both PENGASSAN leadership and the Dangote Refinery management to an emergency meeting in his office on Monday.
The Minister urged the union to withdraw its strike declaration to allow for peaceful conciliation.
Confirming the invitation, Osifo said PENGASSAN would honour the meeting but insisted that the total recall of the sacked workers remained the union’s bottom line.
“We have been called to a meeting tomorrow in the Federal Ministry of Labour and we are going to attend that meeting,” he stated. “Our position is very clear: you cannot send close to 1,000 Nigerians to the streets like that because they are exercising their rights to unionise.”
The PENGASSAN president also urged the Federal Government to call Dangote Refinery to order, warning that Nigeria “is not a banana republic.”