The Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria, PENGASSAN, has blasted the Presidency over comments by Vice President Kashim Shettima condemning its industrial action over its dispute with the Dangote refinery. PENGASSAN recently revealed that it would take the same action if its members were sacked again.
Reacting to FG’s statement, the National President of PENGASSAN, Festus Osifo, declared that if Shettima believes Nigeria is bigger than the union, he shouldn’t forget that the nation is bigger than Dangote and the Presidency as well.
According to him, PENGASSAN had a mandate to safeguard the jobs of its members sacked by the Dangote refinery for joining the association, and the mandate would be discharged anytime the need arises.
He emphasised that if the same situation that led to the sack of its workers repeats itself, the strike action would be deployed to address it.
“Of course the nation is bigger than PENGASSAN, the way it’s bigger than Dangote and the Presidency. We have a mandate to protect the jobs of our members, that we will discharge whenever the need arises.
Should this same event occur again tomorrow, our approach will be exactly the same,” he said.
Responding to social media comments that the Federal Government might be pushed to dissolve PENGASSAN because a strike by its members threatened energy security, he said, “Does the law prohibit workers’ right to strike?”
In conclusion, the General Secretary of PENGASSAN, Lumumba Okugbawa, asked, “Is Nigeria not bigger than any individual or institution?”
