By JOAN NWAGWU

The conciliation meeting between the Federal Government, the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), and the Dangote Group ended in deadlock late Monday.

The meeting, which lasted more than nine hours, was convened by the Federal Government to resolve the lingering industrial dispute over the alleged sack of 800 workers by the Dangote Refinery.

The Minister of Labour and Employment, Alhaji Muhammad Dingyadi, who chaired the meeting, told newsmen in the early hours of Tuesday that progress had been made but two key issues remained unresolved.

?The only issues on the table are the reinstatement of the sacked workers and unionisation. Apart from these, no other matters are lingering.

?We have made a lot of progress and we are optimistic that by later today, when we resume by 2 p.m., we should be able to arrive at a resolution,? he said.

PENGASSAN President, Mr Festus Osifo, said no agreement was reached on the reinstatement of the more than 800 dismissed workers.

?Unfortunately, there is no solution for now. All we want is that the 800-plus people who were sent home be reinstated.

?These people are fathers and mothers, and their careers are at stake,? Osifo said.

He added that branding some of the workers as saboteurs had further damaged their chances of securing employment in the oil and gas industry.

?If they go home like that, there is no other company in Nigeria that will employ them because they have been seen as saboteurs.

?These are careers that will be damaged if proper remedy is not put in place,? he said.

Osifo stressed that the strike would continue until the workers were reinstated.

?Our position is clear: if you reinstate them now, we will call off our action now.

?But that reinstatement did not happen. So, as it stands, the strike continues until we reconvene later today,? he stated.

He further confirmed that the Dangote Group had admitted to dismissing the workers.

?They agreed that they dismissed 800 people, and the reason was stated in the letter.

?It cannot be false because the letters of dismissal are already in the media.

?It is not our word against theirs, but what they themselves signed in the communication they released last Thursday,? Osifo said.

Also speaking, the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr Wale Edun, expressed concern about the economic risks of the prolonged strike.

?We need to limit the damage of this action to the economy. We need gas flowing, we need crude flowing as inputs into production.

?We do not want the current momentum of growth to be broken,? he said.

Edun added that the government was optimistic about breaking the deadlock,adding that putting the issue behind us so the Nigerian economy can move forward. (NAN)

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