The federal government has met with representatives of Dangote refinery over concerns raised by the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN).
According to a statement by the director, information and public relations for the ministry of finance, Mohammed Manga, a meeting was held between Dangote Refinery, the sub-committee on the crude and refined product sales in naira initiative, minister of finance, Wale Edun, and Zacch Adedeji, the chairman of the committee and the executive chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS).
The meeting also had in attendance the minister of budget and economic planning, Abubakar Atiku Bagudu and the representatives of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), and African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank).
According to Manga, the meeting chaired by the minister of finance was to review developments in the downstream oil sector, including the naira-for-crude initiative.
He said two recent issues were considered at the meeting.
According to the statement, they considered the “purported suspension of the naira-for-crude oil arrangement by the Dangote refinery, which has since been amicably resolved, and the concerns raised by the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) regarding the Dangote Refinery”.
The statement noted that the sub-committee reaffirmed that there will be no disruption in the supply of refined petroleum products across the country.
Manga said the committee also “reassured that the crude oil for the Naira initiative will continue.”
“It also assured that all outstanding issues, particularly the dispute between the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) and Dangote Refinery, are being addressed with urgency and in good faith,” the statement reads.
According to the statement, the federal government remains fully committed to ensuring energy security, protecting consumers, and maintaining stability in the domestic petroleum products market.
On September 26, the Dangote refinery suspended the sale of petrol in naira, citing the depletion of its crude-for-naira allocation, but resumed the sale on Saturday after the federal government’s intervention.
PENGASSAN had also instructed its members to embark on a nationwide strike immediately over Dangote Refinery’s alleged dismissal of “over 800 workers”.
