By James
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The Dangote Refinery has re-employed the engineers sacked last month during the crisis between it and the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria.
Our correspondent reliably gathered that the engineers were now being posted to Borno, Zamfara, Benue and others.
The engineers, some of whom were still graduate trainees during their sack, were invited to pick up their re-employment/redeployment letters.
The workers, who did not want to be mentioned because of how sensitive the matter is, told our correspondent that some were sent to a coal mine in Benue and concrete road construction sites in Borno and Ebonyi states, as well as the rice plants in Kebbi, Niger, Sokoto, and Zamfara states.
They were expected to report at their new places of assignment within 14 days, or they would lose the jobs.
Sources within the Dangote group confirmed the development to our correspondent.
“They basically re-employed all of us to these places, under Dangote Projects,” one of the workers told The PUNCH.
One of the letters sighted by our correspondent 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 organisation.
“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 have gone to Dangote’s office in Ikeja for their letters, others said they were told by the leadership of PENGASSAN to hold on as discussions were still ongoing.
The workers expressed 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 told The PUNCH.
However, an official of the Dangote Group said the agreement was to redeploy the workers to other business units under the group, either within or outside the country.
Recall that PENGASSAN shut down oil and gas facilities one month ago over allegations that 800 refinery workers were fired for volunteering to be members of the union.
But the Dangote refinery said it only sacked a few workers who were sabotaging the facility, tagging it a reorganisation.
Oil and gas workers went on strike in defence of their colleagues, causing the nation losses in oil and gas production as well as a drop in power generation. Punch
