The Dangote refinery has rehired the engineers who were fired last month after a dispute between the company and the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria, PENGASSAN.
According to The Punch, the engineers have been assigned to Borno, Zamfara, Benue, and other areas.
The engineers, some of whom were still graduate trainees at the time of their dismissal, were asked to collect their re-employment/redeployment letters.
The workers, who declined to be identified due to the sensitivity of the situation, told our correspondent that some were assigned to a coal mine in Benue, concrete road construction projects in Borno and Ebonyi states, and rice plantations in Kebbi, Niger, Sokoto, and Zamfara states.
They were ordered to report to their new assignments within 14 days or risk losing their jobs.
Sources within the Dangote Group verified the development to our correspondent.
“They basically re-employed all of us to these places, under Dangote Projects,” one of the workers said.
One of the letters seen was titled ’Offer of Trainee Engagement’ with a letterhead that shows Dangote Projects Limited.
It reads partly, “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.
“This engagement shall be subject to the following conditions: 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 organization.
“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 Femi Adekunle, Chief General Manager for Human Asset Management.
While some went to Dangote’s headquarters in Ikeja to deliver their letters, others said they were urged by PENGASSAN leadership to wait because conversations were still underway.
The workers raised concerns over their deployment to far-away places, especially places known for insecurity.
“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.
“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,” they said.
However, a Dangote Group spokesman stated that the arrangement was to relocate the staff to other company units within or outside the country.
PENGASSAN shut down oil and gas facilities a month ago after reports that 800 refinery workers were sacked for volunteering to join the union.
However, the Dangote refinery said that it only fired a few personnel who were destroying the plant, referring to the move as a reorganization.
Oil and gas workers went on strike in support of their colleagues, resulting in losses in oil and gas production as well as a decrease in electricity generation.
The Federal Government intervened to restore peace, asking the Dangote Group to redeploy the fired workers.
Sources within the Dangote Group previously told our correspondent that the corporation was prepared to relocate the engineers to its sugar and cement plants.
It was learned that the corporation would also recruit new engineers to replace those who had been redeployed and that the redeployment would result in a significant loss for the company.
However, some of the engineers objected to the idea of redeploying them to Dangote Group businesses, including sugar, cement, and others.
The employees claimed that the corporation was treating them unfairly because they wanted to unionize.
Alhaji Aliko Dangote, president of the Dangote Group, stated on Sunday that the firm would employ 65,000 workers for construction as the refinery’s expansion from 650,000 barrels per day to 1.4 million barrels per day began.
It is unclear whether some of the terminated engineers will be rehired for the expansion, especially since they were accused of attempting to sabotage the refinery 22 times, something the impacted workers have disputed.
