Some of the engineers sacked by the Dangote refinery last month have debunked claims that there were 22 incidents of sabotage, including an attempt to set the facility on fire.

The engineers said the allegations were not true, insisting that they were sacked for joining the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria.

Speaking anonymously because of the sensitivity of the matter, the workers questioned why the refinery had not arrested anyone for prosecution if truly there were 22 attempts to sabotage the refinery, set it afire or bring the equipment down.

During a tour of the refinery on Friday, the Vice President of the Dangote Group, Devakumar Edwin, maintained the workers were sacked because they were sabotaging the refinery.

According to him, the plan to reorganise the company had no connection to labour union pressures or actions, particularly from the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria.

He said the refinery had been under repeated attacks as some workers tried to set the refinery on fire or break a wall to tamper with the equipment.

“We have been under repeated attacks. Originally, they said the refinery will not even come up. Then they said it will not be commissioned and start production. We went through all those phases. They said we have an issue with PENGASSAN, which is totally false news.

“We started facing incidents of sabotage. We have 22 incidents of sabotage. You are all aware. You have seen fires in the past, even in the Kaduna refinery and some of the other refineries. There were attempted fire incidents. I have the dates, the unit where it was done, and when it was done; all are documented data. You went to the master control room; you know that all the data are completely captured. And in the same way, equipment was tried to be brought down. Somebody will open a wall to try to see if it will break down. Fortunately for us, by the grace of God, it’s a very ultramodern refinery. So, when somebody starts a fire somewhere, the fire protection system works so well that it is immediately controlled. In the same way, when they tried to break down an instrument by opening a wall or adjusting some instruments, some other instrument overruled it and stopped it. But it is documented.

“So, we started looking at it, and then we were a bit concerned that somebody can just bring a major ship down, into which a lot of investments have gone. That is why we did this massive reorganisation. It has nothing to do with PENGASSAN, and I repeatedly emphasise, even the dates or planning, everything is different,” he stated.

Reacting, the sacked engineers said the claims by Edwin were untrue.

“If true, you know it’s a very serious matter, and people would have been arrested by now,” they said.

The engineers mentioned that with the evidence and documentation Edwin claimed he has, someone ought to have been arrested by now.

“From media reports, they said they have evidence. How will you have evidence without suspects?“ the engineers asked.

They re-emphasised that there was no time an attempt was made by any of them to set the refinery on fire or bring down the equipment.

Nigeria imports 15bn litres of petrol despite Dangote refinery output
“I have said it before, some of us built this refinery. How do you think we will be the ones to bring it down? If there was any sabotage attempt, it was not from the engineers. We love the refinery, and we are ready to make it succeed,” a worker stated.

PENGASSAN shut down oil and gas facilities three weeks 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 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.

The intervention of the Federal Government restored peace as the Dangote Group was asked to redeploy the sacked workers.

Sources within the Dangote Group had earlier told our correspondent that the company was ready to redeploy the engineers to its sugar and cement plants.

It was learnt that the company would also recruit new engineers to replace the redeployed ones, and the redeployment would be a huge loss to the company.


But some of the engineers decried the plan to redeploy them to sugar, cement and other business units under the Dangote Group.

The workers said the company was victimising them for unionisation.

Engineers not yet redeployed

Speaking with our correspondent on Sunday, the engineers said they had yet to be recalled or redeployed by the refinery.

They stated that since the payment of their September salaries on October 6, they have not been contacted by the organisation.

“We are still at home; no communication so far. So, we are waiting for the next decision of the company,” they stated.