The National Industrial Court in Abuja has issued an interim order restraining the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria from halting crude oil and gas supply to the Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals FZE.
In a ruling delivered on Monday, Justice Emmanuel Danjuma Subilim barred PENGASSAN and other defendants from embarking on any industrial action that could disrupt the refinery’s operations, pending the hearing of a substantive motion.
The order, which will last for seven days, followed an ex parte application filed by the refinery’s counsel, George Ibrahim. He told the court that PENGASSAN had threatened to mobilise workers across oil and gas agencies to cut supply to the facility following the disengagement of some staff.
“The claimant is a licensed refinery providing essential services to Nigeria’s economy. Any attempt to stop crude supply would cripple its operations and plunge the country into another round of energy shortages,” Ibrahim argued.
He added that the refinery recently undertook a reorganisation exercise due to safety concerns and incidents of sabotage, stressing that “only a negligible number of workers were affected.”
He maintained that the sack was not connected to union membership, contrary to PENGASSAN’s claims.
According to court documents, PENGASSAN had written to the Minister of Petroleum Resources on September 26, insisting that over 800 dismissed workers be reinstated. The union also threatened to “bring the refinery to its knees” if its demand was not met.
Justice Subilim, in granting the restraining order, said the balance of convenience favoured the refinery, noting that “allowing the threatened strike to continue would cause irreparable harm to the claimant and jeopardise essential public services.”
The judge directed that the order be served on all parties immediately, while adjourning the matter until October 13 for hearing of the motion on notice.
Reacting to the ruling, a management source at the refinery welcomed the decision, saying it would “safeguard the facility’s critical role in addressing Nigeria’s long-standing energy challenges.”
