Protesting Workers Shut Down Shell Nigeria Gas Facility

The Shell Nigeria Gas (SNG) facility in Ota, Ogun State, has been shut down following a protest by its workers.

The facility, which supplies gas to companies in Ota and Agbara, was reportedly shut down on Saturday.

The Eagle Online was told on Sunday that the protesting workers still barricaded the entrance to the SNG despite the deployment of operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS) at the instance of the management of Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company Limited (SNEPCo), the owners of SNG.

As earlier reported the workers are protesting what they termed modern day slavery by the management of SNEPCo.

Speaking with a Correspondent of The Eagle Online on Sunday, one of the workers accused the management of SNEPCo of “engaging in modern day slavery”.

He said the company was benchmarking their pay with sectors outside the oil and gas. 

When asked about the outcome of the meeting with the management after the protest at the headquarters of the company on March 3, 2026, the union leader said nothing came out of it.

He said rather than listening to workers, the company is banking on the support of the Federal Government of Nigeria as it is now reinvesting in the country.

On March 3, 2026, the workers blocked entrance into the headquarters of SNEPCo.

The early morning protest was coordinated by the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN).

According to eyewitnesses, the action, which led to a snarl in traffic around the area as passersby paused to catch a glimpse, had the protesting workers preventing complete access to the Shell building.

After a while, some of the workers were allowed in with their vehicles.

But a change of mind saw the protesting workers barring entry by vehicles, including those of top officials of SNEPCo.

According to a flyer of the strike seen by The Eagle Online, the workers accused the leadership of SNEPCo of practicing modern day slavery, discrimination in pay against Nigerian staff, and conscious bias in pay benchmarking in Nigeria.

The workers are also against the policy of the firm in the application of global pay policy in Nigeria without consideration for local peculiarities, adding that it is “Best-in-Basin” with poor pay.

The Best-in-Basin is about cutting cost, which affects all operational issues, including attending conferences.

For instance, the company was not present at the Nigeria International Energy Summit (NIES) in Abuja in February 2026 as a sponsor.

Rather, it sent a few delegates instead of several that are accommodated as sponsors.

More so, the organisers were only informed about the development about a week before the event.

Other local and International Oil Companies (IOC), including the Nigeria Liquefied and Natural Gas Company (NLNG), Total Nigeria, and Chevron Nigeria Limited (CNL), participated fully at the conference.

The staff are also accusing SNEPCo of giving them allowances that are not market reflective.

They cited car grants as an example.

As a staff member explained to The Eagle Online: “Can you imagine a company giving a staff N1 million to buy a car now?

“Yes, N1 million could look like a huge sum, but it can’t even get you a bicycle not to talk of a car.”

The staff also accused the management of SNEPCo of enslaving their colleagues they classified as SNSS with poor conditions of service, adding that expatriates were now taking over the jobs meant for Nigerians.

They said there are now several Non-Accidental Deaths (NAD) caused by poor pay, heavy workload, stress, debt burden, and unending reorganisation.

SNEPCo had a major divestment in Nigeria, with Shell Nigeria Gas (SNG) as its main preoccupation now, which has almost limited its activities to Lagos.

However, it still has AllOn and Daystar as subsidiaries also.

They also both operate largely from Lagos, developing the energy sector through financing.

According to a staff of SNEPCo, the workers took the decision to barricade the office because the management had failed to listen to their demands.

Another staff member said there was the need for the government to intervene because the management feels no one can hold them accountable and that they could cause division among the staff.

The staff believes two things work in favour of the management.

The first is that before now, the staff had started working from home on certain days of the week.

So staff cannot gather in their numbers on a daily basis.

The second is the belief that they can stop any staff action from getting publicised.

Efforts to speak with the company as at press time did not yield fruitful results.