Dangote To Redeploy Sacked Refinery Engineers To Sugar, Cement Plants – Sources Reveal
Some sources within the Dangote Group have revealed that refinery engineers recently dismissed for joining the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) will be redeployed to the company’s sugar and cement factories.
Sources in the refinery told Punch that the company will also recruit new engineers to replace those who have been redeployed.
According to the source, the redeployment was a huge loss to the company.
It was gathered that some of the 800 could also be deployed to units within the group’s operations outside the country.
An official told the aforementioned publication that Dangote had no issue with the workers’ decision to join a union, but the act of sabotage could not be tolerated.
The workers were accused of releasing sensitive information to those perceived as the enemies of the refinery.
“The workers will be redeployed to sugar, cement and other business units. Some of us are pained because of some of those affected. They are prospects, and the company had good plans for them.
“Has anyone looked at the loss to the company? The majority of these guys were fresh graduates employed by the company, sent abroad for training and then absorbed into the system. These are probably the first set of Nigerian engineers who had been part of the commissioning of a refinery.
“How many engineers from this part can boast of being part of the commissioning of a big project like this? They were part of it from the beginning. You can’t buy that in the market. You can’t compare the experience of someone who was part of commissioning with someone who was employed after the project.
“How many generations of engineers in Nigeria have that opportunity? Employing new hands requires training them because most Nigerian graduates lack work experience. Can you quantify that investment? It’s a lot, but you can’t risk saboteurs in the system. Then the time before they become grounded? And a refinery gives room for minimal error; otherwise, your investment is gone,” a source stated.
It was disclosed that some of the engineers had earlier been poached by a foreign company because of their prowess.
“The reinstated workers would be deployed to different units. As you know, the Dangote Group operates multiple facilities both in Nigeria and outside the country. So, some of the employees will be redeployed to those locations. It will go through a process, but once concluded, they will resume their new roles. Hopefully, it should not take too long,” the source said.