The Dangote Group has clarified that the redeployment of the workers to different states across Nigeria was part of the company’s larger strategy to strengthen operations at its project sites, in response to the controversy surrounding the re-engagement of some of the Dangote Petroleum Refinery’s fired employees. In light of the controversy surrounding the redeployment of the fired employees who were re-engaged as part of the agreement with the leadership of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENSASSAN), Mr. Edwin Devakumar, Vice-President, Oil and Gas at Dangote Group, made this announcement.Following a reorganization by the Dangote Group due to suspected sabotage of its operations, PENGASSAN has initiated an industrial action that affected at least 800 of its members. The Federal Government stepped in during the three-day strike, which caused a major reduction in power supplies and interfered with the production of gas and oil. It was requested that the refinery redistribute the fired employees to other Dangote Group firms.It was discovered that the refinery had rehired the engineers in order to carry out the deal. But despite claims of victimization, their relocation to Maiduguri in Borno State, Zamfara, Benue, and other states outside of Lagos has been creating a stir. However, Devakumar clarified to Daily Trust yesterday, during the tour of the refinery by some Abuja-based editors led by Ambassador Godknows Igali, Chairman of the Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF), that the redeployment exercise was a strategic move to place them where the company currently has active projects fully owned and managed by the group, rather than an act of victimization as some had claimed.
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