The Dangote Refinery has begun re-engaging and redeploying several engineers and graduate trainees who were laid off last month following a dispute with the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN).
The recalled employees have received fresh appointment letters and are being reassigned to other Dangote projects across the country, including locations in Borno, Zamfara, Benue, Ebonyi, Kebbi, Niger, and Sokoto States.
One of the letters sighted, titled “Offer of Trainee Engagement” and issued by Dangote Projects Limited, offered an Engineer Trainee (Mechanical Engineering) position for a coal project in Okpokwu, Benue State.
Signed by Femi Adekunle, Chief General Manager of Human Asset Management, the letter outlined a two-year training programme—combining classroom sessions with hands-on experience. It also stated that either party could terminate the engagement with one month’s notice or salary in lieu.
However, despite being re-engaged, some engineers have expressed concerns about the redeployment, citing insecurity in some of the assigned states and unclear reporting details. One affected worker said they had not been provided with an exact office address or reporting location and were warned of termination if they failed to report within 14 days.
In response, PENGASSAN has reportedly advised its members not to accept the new offers until discussions with the company are concluded.
A senior Dangote Group official, however, clarified that the redeployment was part of an agreement reached with PENGASSAN, aimed at relocating the affected workers to other business units within and outside Nigeria.
The earlier dispute arose when the refinery allegedly dismissed hundreds of workers for attempting to join PENGASSAN — a claim the company denied, insisting that it only carried out an internal “reorganization” and terminated a few employees for “sabotaging the facility.”
The union responded by temporarily shutting down key oil and gas operations, prompting the Federal Government to intervene and order the company to either reinstate or redeploy the affected employees.
While Dangote Industries describes the current exercise as a routine restructuring, some workers remain skeptical, viewing the reassignment to remote or volatile regions as punitive, a charge the management firmly denies.
The redeployments come amid Aliko Dangote’s announcement of plans to expand the refinery’s capacity from 650,000 barrels per day to 1.4 million, a move projected to create over 65,000 new construction jobs.
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