High-Stakes Showdown: Dangote, PENGASSAN Lock Horns In Secret Meeting At NSA’s Office Full Details Inside

A new round of reconciliation talks between Dangote Refinery and the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) has been relocated to the Office of the National Security Adviser (NSA).

The Minister of Labour and Employment, Mohammed Dingyadi, along with some PENGASSAN officials who had arrived for the meeting, later moved to the NSA’s office. The Tuesday session is being conducted behind closed doors.

This follows an earlier meeting that ended in a stalemate. Dangote Refinery management and PENGASSAN had failed to resolve their dispute over the alleged mass dismissal of union members. The previous meeting, convened by the federal government, began at 3:30 p.m. in the Minister of Labour’s Conference Hall in Abuja and adjourned shortly after midnight without an agreement. Talks are scheduled to resume at 2 p.m. on September 30.

The federal government had summoned both parties to the negotiating table amid growing unrest. PENGASSAN claims Dangote Refinery carried out mass transfers and sackings of union members and allegedly replaced some Nigerian staff with foreign nationals—a claim the company has consistently denied.

PENGASSAN is represented by its President, Festus Osifo, alongside Nuhu Toro, General Secretary of the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC). The government delegation is led by Minister Dingyadi, while Dangote Refinery’s senior management represents the company.