Nigerians from different sectors have risen in support of Dangote Refinery’s 10,000 CNG truck initiative and against the organized Labour, particularly the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Worker’s threat of embarking on strike.
They pointedly criticised and accused NUPENG of protecting vested interests at the expense of progress and citizens’ socio-economic benefits.
One of the organisations that kicked against NUPENG’s threat is the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), which warned that its members will not stand idly by and watch the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) and their sponsors to destroy the Dangote Petroleum Refinery.
NANS said that Dangote Refinery remains a facility that has become a beacon of employment and a hub of knowledge transfer for countless Nigerian graduates across all fields of endeavours.
NANS specifically accused NUPENG of protecting vested interests at the expense of progress and citizens’ socio-economic benefits and therefore called on the Federal Government to as a matter of national importance, to urgently intervene to save the Dangote Refinery from NUPENG’s act of economic sabotage without respect to the rule of law or extant guidelines.
A statement by Comrade Usman Adamu Nagwaza, President of the Senate of NANS, said that the leadership of the students’ body has been following with keen interest the ongoing feud between the Dangote Refinery and NUPENG.
This is coming against the backdrop of Nigerians’ support for Dangote Refinery’s 10,000 CNG truck initiative against the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Worker’s strike threat.
NANS expressed concerns over foreign influence which has so far so surfaced in the contentious debate, just as it noted that NUPENG was only being divisive by viciously accusing and attacking Dangote Group of adopting anti-labour practices at its refinery and seeking to dominate the oil supply chain.
NANS said; “As much as we recognize the importance and vital role that unions and associations play in the defense and protection of human rights, we are obliged at this point to set the record straight: joining one is a matter of free will.
“No individual or group should be compelled or coerced into membership. Everyone has the freedom of association, and the choice not to associate should never warrant threats of a national showdown from any individual, body, or union.
“Furthermore, we call the attention of the National Security Adviser, the top security brass, and their respective formations to the urgent need to safeguard these critical national assets. Any attack on them is, without question, an attack on the future of our nation.
“We urge NUPENG to embrace dialogue and refrain from inadvertently becoming instruments in the hands of economic saboteurs,” NANS warned.
Similarly, a social media influencer, Ebere Anosike noted that it was clear that the NLC & NUPENG are being used to sabotage Dangote Refinery and by extension, Nigeria’s economy to save Western refineries that are worrying about declining fuel imports.
Anosike said that more worrying aspect is the fact that NUPENG workers and members might not even know they’re being used by unseen hands controlling their top officials, stressing that a serious country would investigate them for possible economic treason.
In his own comment, a leading civil society group, Right for Human Dignity and Justice, reaffirmed its initial call on the Inspector General of Police and the Director-General of the Department of State Services to arrest and prosecute the leadership of NUPENG.
Executive Director of the group, Iheanyi Kingsley, noted that NUPENG’s was only acting a script with a deliberate attempt to discredit the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and malign the image of the country.
He therefore stressed the urgent need for the Federal Government to protect Dangote Refinery and forestall any situation that might pose the risk of fuel scarcity and make Nigerians suffer untold hardships.
Kingsley stressed that labour organisations must be made to understand that unionism is not by force, but optional, saying that since Dangote Refinery workers have rejected NUPENG and its diabolic collective bargaining agreements (CBA), it should adopt a more acceptable option.
Also speaking on the development, Senator Usman Adamu Nagwaza said that Dangote Refinery has contributed immensely to fuel production and distribution in the country, which has eased the burden on Nigerians and undoubtedly spurred economic growth.
