Dangote redeploys sacked workers to coal mine, construction sites, conflict zones

The Dangote Refinery has re-employed engineers sacked last month during the dispute between the company and the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), with many of them redeployed to various project sites across the country.

Sources told The PUNCH that the affected engineers, some of whom were graduate trainees at the time of their dismissal, were invited to pick up their re-employment or redeployment letters under Dangote Projects Limited.

“They basically re-employed all of us to these places, under Dangote Projects,” one of the workers said.

The re-employed engineers are being posted to project sites in Borno, Zamfara, Benue, Ebonyi, Kebbi, Niger, and Sokoto states. Some have been assigned to a coal mine in Benue, concrete road construction sites in Borno and Ebonyi, and rice processing plants in the North.

According to one of the letters titled Offer of Trainee Engagement and signed by Femi Adekunle, Chief General Manager of Human Asset Management, the company said the engineers were being engaged as “Engineer Trainee (Mechanical Engineering)” for a coal project in Okpokwu, Benue State.

“Based on your performance at the assessment and subsequent interviews held with you, we are pleased to engage you as Engineer Trainee (Mechanical Engineering) for the coal project we are executing at Okpokwu, Benue State,” the letter read in part. “You will report to your work location within 14 days upon receipt of this letter. You will undergo classroom training and hands-on training in the construction, commissioning and operation for our Coal Project at Okpokwu, Benue State.”

The letter added that the training would last for two years and could be terminated by either party with one month’s notice or payment in lieu of notice.

While some engineers have collected their letters at Dangote’s Ikeja office, others said they were advised by PENGASSAN to hold off pending further discussions with the company.

Some of the re-employed engineers, however, raised concerns about their redeployment to distant and insecure locations.

“The issue with the re-employment is that, firstly, there’s no address to report to on that letter. No office to report to at the states we were posted to,” one of them said. “Secondly, those are security hot zones. Thirdly, in the letter, it is stated that if you don’t report within 14 days, your employment will be terminated, but no office location was given, and they don’t exist when we checked on Google Maps. So, if we accept the letter, we are basically terminating our employment by ourselves because there’s no office in those states to report to. PENGASSAN has basically told us not to accept the letters. We should let them continue with their talks.”

An official of the Dangote Group, who confirmed the development, said the redeployment was part of an agreement to post the affected workers to other business units within or outside Nigeria.

Last month, PENGASSAN shut down oil and gas facilities nationwide after alleging that about 800 refinery workers were fired for volunteering to join the union. Dangote Group denied the allegation, insisting it only dismissed a few workers “sabotaging the facility,” describing the move as a reorganisation.

The strike caused losses in oil and gas output and disrupted power generation before the federal government intervened and brokered peace, asking the company to redeploy the sacked engineers.

On Sunday, Dangote Group President Aliko Dangote announced that the company would employ 65,000 workers for construction works as it expands the refinery’s capacity from 650,000 barrels per day to 1.4 million.

It remains unclear whether the re-employed engineers will be absorbed into the refinery expansion, as the company earlier accused some of them of attempting to sabotage the facility 22 times — a claim the affected workers have denied.