You ever get that “not again” feeling?

Yeah, buckle up—because the Dangote Refinery is now beefing with PENGASSAN, the oil workers’ union. Union’s pissed about mass layoffs, so they’ve slammed the brakes on crude and gas supply. Classic.

So, what’s really going on? Let’s break it down, minus the corporate jargon.

PENGASSAN swears Dangote chucked 800+ workers—apparently for daring to join the union. That’s some cold-blooded stuff. In revenge, the union told oil & gas folks to basically starve the refinery of crude and gas. Tit for tat, baby.

Naturally, Dangote’s management is out here yelling about sabotage and “destroying the economy.” (As if Nigerians haven’t been doing laps around hardship for years.) Now, the government’s suddenly interested—trying to do the whole “we’ll mediate, don’t panic” thing. Like, sure. Because they’ve been so on top of everything else, right?

And while these big dogs bark at each other, guess who’s about to get bitten? Us. Reports are already saying lights might flicker (again) if gas stops flowing to power plants, and don’t even get me started on fuel—fewer supplies, higher prices. Yay, just what we needed.

If this drags on, the country bleeds cash every single day. Billions, apparently. Not that any of us will see those billions anyway.

Why Should You Even Care?

Look, this isn’t just “rich guy drama.” When these giant egos clash, it’s everyday folks like you and me who get kicked in the teeth. Fuel? Pricier or impossible to find. Power? More nights sweating in the dark. Jobs? Yeah, good luck. Even folks NOT in oil and gas will feel the pinch when everything goes up in price. It’s a domino effect, and you already know who the last domino is. Spoiler: It’s the average Nigerian.

And honestly, when even the country’s “solutions” (like this damn refinery) get stuck in union vs. billionaire cage matches, what’s left to believe in? It’s exhausting.

The Real Problem: Power Always Protects Power

This is textbook. Unions fight, government “intervenes” (translation: saves face), and at the end of the day, the little guy gets trampled. Workers lose jobs, the system protects itself, and the rest of us pay for it in cash, stress.

So, What Now? What Do We Even Do?

We can’t just shrug and say “na so e be.” That’s how they win. We should be demanding—no, shouting for—some basic respect:

– Real transparency from Dangote and the regulators. No more closed-door nonsense.
– Treat workers like humans, not disposable parts. People have rights.
– Policies that actually shield citizens when these big shots go to war.
– Stop leaning on fuel imports—support local industries and more refineries (for real this time).
– And, honestly, pressure from regular people. March, protest, tweet, write. Make noise till they can’t ignore us.

Wake up, folks. Every time these power players clash, we get the short end of the stick. If we don’t start fighting for ourselves, we’ll keep getting dunked on by people who barely know the price of garri. Enough already.

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