Nigeria oil workers strike over job cuts called off

Nigeria's oil workers union has agreed to call off a strike after a meeting with the management of Dangote Petroleum and government officials, the country's labour ministry said.

The strike was called after the Dangote refinery - Africa's largest with a crude processing capacity of 650,000 barrels per day - dismissed more than 800 unionised staff. The walkout had threatened fuel supply and trade across West Africa.

The labour ministry said in a statement following a conciliation meeting between the PENGASSAN union and Dangote Petroleum that the dismissed workers would be given jobs in other parts of the Dangote Group with no loss of pay.

The labour minister told the meeting that unionisation was a right of workers and should be respected.

"PENGASSAN agreed to start the process of calling off the strike," the statement added.

The workers at the privately owned Dangote refinery were dismissed on Thursday for unionising, PENGASSAN said on Friday.

Dangote refinery officials said at the time that the dismissals were part of a staff reorganisation and accused those affected of acts of sabotage.