Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals has defended its the decision to sack some of its staff members.

The explanation was contained in the letter handed over to those affected by the Chief General Manager, Human Asset Management, Femi Adekunle.

A report in The PUNCH quoted the refinery to have said the decision was taken in response to repeated sabotage by staff members that threatened the operational safety of the 650,000 barrels per day facility.

In the letter dated September 24, 2025, Adekunle said the refinery was “constrained to carry out a total reorganisation of the plant” following “many recent cases of reported sabotage in different units of the Petroleum Refinery leading to major safety concerns.”

Affected staff members were directed to hand over all company property to their line managers and await clearance before receiving their entitlements, which the Department of Finance would compute in line with their conditions of service.

A copy of the disengagement letter, obtained by The PUNCH on Friday, and addressed to all staff members of Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals FZE and Dangote Industries Free Zone Development Company, said: “In view of the many recent cases of reported sabotage in different units of the Petroleum Refinery leading to major safety concerns, the Management is constrained to carry out a total re-organisation of the plant.

“As a consequence of this development, we wish to inform you that your services are no longer required, with effect from the eve of Thursday, the 25th September, 2025.

“Please surrender all the Company’s properties in your possession to your line manager and obtain an exit clearance accordingly, but the date for doing so will be communicated to you later.

“The Finance Department, by a copy of this letter, is advised to compute all your benefits and entitlements in line with your terms of employment and conditions of service and pay the amount due to you (less all indebtedness), subject to the condition that you have obtained the exit clearance certificate as mentioned above.

“We seize this opportunity to thank you for your services while you were in our employment.”