The Dangote Refinery has re-employed several engineers who were sacked last month following the crisis between the company and the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN).
According to The Punch, the re-employed engineers are now being redeployed to various locations, including Borno, Zamfara, Benue, and other states. Sources revealed that some of the affected workers were still graduate trainees at the time of their dismissal. They have now been invited to collect their re-employment or redeployment letters under Dangote Projects Limited.
Some of the workers, who spoke on the matter on condition of anonymity, disclosed that they were being sent to coal mines in Benue State, concrete road construction sites in Borno and Ebonyi states, and rice plants located in Kebbi, Niger, Sokoto, and Zamfara. The affected employees were instructed to report to their new duty posts within 14 days or risk losing the opportunity.
One of the workers confirmed the development, saying, “They basically re-employed all of us to these places, under Dangote Projects.”
A copy of one of the re-employment letters sighted was titled ‘Offer of Trainee Engagement’, bearing the Dangote Projects Limited letterhead.
It reads in part:
“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 further detailed the conditions of the engagement:
“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. Your training will be for a period of two years, and it will be reviewed periodically. You will be required to submit reports on your learning and progress. The objective of the training is to impart to you skills and to enable you to take up a position of responsibility in the organisation.”
It added, “Both the company and you can terminate the trainee engagement by giving one month’s notice or payment of one month’s salary in lieu of notice. We welcome you to the Dangote Group.”
The letters were signed by the Chief General Manager, Human Asset Management, Femi Adekunle. While some workers have already gone to the Dangote office in Ikeja to collect their letters, others said they were instructed by PENGASSAN leadership to hold on, as discussions with the management were still ongoing.
However, some of the redeployed engineers expressed concern over being sent to volatile areas.
One of them said, “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. Secondly, those are security hot zones.”
They added, “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.”
Reports gathered from officials from Dangote Group is that the agreement reached with PENGASSAN was to redeploy the workers to other business units under the group, both within and outside the country.
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It would be recalled that PENGASSAN had shut down oil and gas facilities a month ago following allegations that about 800 refinery workers were dismissed for joining the union. The Dangote Refinery, however, denied the claim, insisting that only a few workers who were allegedly sabotaging operations were dismissed, describing the move as an internal reorganisation.
The nationwide strike by oil and gas workers over the matter caused losses in crude oil production and a decline in power generation. Peace was later restored following the intervention of the Federal Government, which instructed the Dangote Group to redeploy the affected workers.
Sources within the company earlier revealed that the management planned to redeploy the engineers to its sugar and cement factories, while also recruiting new engineers to fill refinery positions.
Despite this, some of the affected engineers accused the company of victimisation, alleging that their redeployment was linked to union activities.
Meanwhile, the President of Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, announced on Sunday that the company would employ 65,000 additional workers as part of its plan to expand the refinery’s capacity from 650,000 barrels per day to 1.4 million barrels per day.
It remains uncertain whether some of the sacked engineers will be reabsorbed for the refinery expansion project, especially given that they were previously accused of attempting to sabotage the plant 22 times — an allegation they have strongly denied.