By :Tobi Awodipe (Lagos) and Collins Olayinka (Abuja)
Date: 2 Oct 2025
Director-General, Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), Segun Ajayi-Kadir, has described the rift between Dangote Refinery and Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) as unfortunate, and a needless attack on private enterprise.
Noting that the strike had far-reaching implications on residents and businesses, he said factories suffered cuts in production schedules, with a hike in transportation fare.
Meanwhile, PENGASSAN has said it decided to suspend its two-day strike to protect the jobs of its members in Dangote Refinery.
The President, Festus Osifo, explained that the union was unsatisfied with the posting of about 800 sacked staff to Dangote’s subsidiaries to prevent job loss.
Fielding questions from reporters at MAN House, yesterday, while announcing the association’s coming Annual General Meeting (AGM) taking place next month, he revealed that imported products, which were not suffering disruption, were likely to fill the gap and if the rift rears its head again, it would affect daily workers and people in the logistics value chain that rely on the products made in those factories.
Urging the government to end the matter once and for all in its own interest, he said the government was not left out, as its revenue from Company Income Tax (CIT) would be affected.
“Capacity utilisation is already very low and if it drops even further, everyone is going to feel it, including the government. So, it is in the interest of everyone (labour, government, manufacturers, Dangote, PENGASSAN and everyone else) for the refinery not to fail.
“For an investment of $20 billion, should we watch, fold our arms and let it fail? The case is in court and there is an injunction restraining the union from shutting down the plants. We can only hope common sense prevails.”
Speaking on the lending rate, which was slightly cut by the apex bank recently, he said there had been relative stability in the economy, but he looks forward to stronger reforms that will help the real sector.
He said the apex bank must lower rates even more to aid their survival and called for special windows for manufacturers to access credit.
“We are happy with the N75 billion that was given to us through the Bank of Industry (BoI), but we need much more than this. We are still asking for the N1 trillion we were promised, as we have shown we can be trusted with little.”
Speaking on the exemption of manufacturing inputs and raw materials reached with the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) last week, he said this insulated them significantly, as there was no way they could survive a 186 percentage increase in duty.
“We are battling N2 trillion unsold inventory as disposable income keeps dwindling every day. This is a major problem for manufacturers,” he decried.
OSIFO, while speaking on the suspended action, said: “The idea of posting the sacked workers to other subsidiaries came from the government because Dangote Group declared the workers ‘saboteurs’ who will not be allowed to come back to the refinery. So, the government tried to find a middle ground for industrial peace to reign. Our aim was to ensure our members are back to work irrespective of where they are placed.”
He further explained that declaring their members ‘saboteurs’ means they will find it difficult to find jobs in the industry or outside of it.
“We are not calling off the strike; we are only suspending the action to allow Dangote Group to effect the placement of our members. We are monitoring events to ensure that the placement takes place within a reasonable time. We will not give further notice before another round of strikes if the agreement reached is not implemented. We are sure that the Dangote Group we know is unlikely to respect the agreement, but we are giving them the benefit of the doubt to do the right thing,” he added.
Osifo dismissed the insinuation that PENGASSAN is protesting because of the check-off dues that workers in Dangote Refinery will remit to the union.
SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN NEWS PAPER
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