Dangote Petroleum Refinery has warned that the recent directive issued by the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) to cut crude oil and gas supplies to the refinery could plunge Nigerians into fresh rounds of fuel scarcity while inflicting huge revenue losses on the government.

In a statement released on Saturday, the refinery described the directive as “criminal, reckless, and an act of economic sabotage”, warning that if enforced, it could disrupt the production and nationwide supply of critical petroleum products, including petrol, diesel, aviation fuel, kerosene, and cooking gas.

The company stressed that these products are indispensable to daily life and the economy, warning that Nigerians at every level, from households to businesses and industries would bear the brunt of shortages.

SPONSOR AD

It noted that a sudden disruption in supply will translate into insufferable hardship for millions of Nigerians.

“The products that would be disrupted and stopped include but are not limited to aviation fuel, petrol, kerosene, diesel and cooking gas – all products that are used and required by all stripes of Nigerians and persons living in Nigeria, whether high and mighty or lowly and ordinary.”

“In what circumstance would it be justified for PENGASSAN to so disrupt and introduce insufferable hardship into the living conditions of Nigerians? None that we can see.

“The follow up question is, in whose interest and on whose behalf is PENGASSAN directing and intending to inflict such anarchic and criminal disruption upon the Nigerian society and persons living in Nigeria? Most certainly, not in the interest of the Nigerian State and/or the Nigerian public and citizens,” the company said.

Beyond the immediate hardship on citizens, Dangote Refinery warned that the government’s revenue would also be dented, given the refinery’s status as one of the country’s largest taxpayers and contributors to both federal and state coffers.

The company said any pause in operations would stall contributions to the national purse and undermine investor confidence in Nigeria’s oil and gas sector.

The statement noted, “This is also economic sabotage against the Nigerian State at multiple levels. Dangote Refinery is the only refinery of its type in Africa and ordinarily should be the pride of all Nigerians as well as the governments of Nigeria. It should ordinarily have special protection and status and indeed qualifies as a strategic national asset”.

It added that an irreparable injury to the Dangote Refinery such as PENGASSAN has directed constitutes a national embarrassment to the country and a disincentive to external investors who ordinarily would have been encouraged by the success of Dangote Refinery to contemplate investing in Nigeria’s oil and gas sector or generally.

Calling on the Federal Government and security agencies to act swiftly, the refinery urged Nigerians to take note of the “unquantifiable and irredeemable hardship which PENGASSAN wishes to inflict on all of us” if not checked, warning that fuel queues, energy shortages and price hikes could quickly resurface.

It urged PENGASSAN to submit to amicable and legal resolution and not resort to economic sabotage and mob action that could introduce mayhem and chaos and easily translate into anarchy.