Comrade Bosun Olabiyi, Trade Union Congress (TUC) Chairman, Oyo State chapter, has called on the management of Dangote Refinery to respect the rights of workers and prioritise their welfare. Olabiyi, a former national financial secretary of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), said that while Nigerians are grateful to Alhaji …
Dangote Must Respect Nigerian Workers’ Rights, Welfare – TUC
Comrade Bosun Olabiyi, Trade Union Congress (TUC) Chairman, Oyo State chapter, has called on the management of Dangote Refinery to respect the rights of workers and prioritise their welfare.
Olabiyi, a former national financial secretary of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), said that while Nigerians are grateful to Alhaji Aliko Dangote for investing $20 billion into the refinery to revive domestic refining of fuel, the company must prioritise the welfare of its workers.
He said the billionaire industrialist invested in the business to make profits and not as a charity organisation.
The refinery management has been at loggerheads with labour unions such as PENGASSAN and the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) over the unionisation of workers.
PENGASSAN embarked on a nationwide strike on Sunday over the alleged sacking of 800 workers by the private refinery because they joined the union. It demanded immediate reinstatement of the sacked workers.
TUC and the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) have expressed support for PENGASSAN and threatened to embark on a nationwide solidarity strike if the company fails to comply with their demands.
In response, the refinery described PENGASSAN’s actions as lawless and criminal, highlighting the implications of the industrial action on Nigerians and the economy.
In a statement released on Tuesday, September 30, Olabiyi criticised Dangote for allegedly undermining the rights of workers.
He stated that Dangote did the best in terms of investing in quality in all aspects of production and doesn’t care about the welfare of workers in the company.
He queried why Dangote does not want workers to exercise their constitutional rights of joining labour unions as obtainable in other countries of the world.
He said what Dangote is doing amounts to asking the country to suspend Section 40 of the Nigerian constitution and abandon ILO Conventions 87 and 98 and other labour laws that Nigeria is a signatory to for him to be in business.
He said even the NNPC, NLNG and other multinational companies, including TotalEnergies, ExxonMobil, Chevron, and Agip, which have made significant investments in the industry, “did not ask Nigeria to become lawless for them to break even or remain in business.”
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“Dangote did the best in terms of quality in all other aspects of production but labour. Dangote bought and assembled the world’s best set of equipment to build the refinery. Dangote is getting grade A raw materials to feed into his lines for quality output. Dangote will not allow local crude production to impact his operation.
“He will go abroad to get the best of crude and also timely. Dangote located his refinery in a choice area to make logistics easy and in an area where he can rest from communal issues, the Lagos Centre of Excellence.
“But when it comes to labour and remuneration, Dangote feels that is the area where he can cut corners. Dangote took workers abroad for elaborate and quality training to make sure they performed optimally and brought out a quality product from his refinery, but when it came to their remuneration, Dangote saw an opportunity to cut corners just like most cunning capitalists will want to do.”
He accused the industrialist of only being interested in his product and profit and not the welfare of workers.
Olabiyi further criticised Dangote’s move to invest in the deployment of 4000 CNG-powered trucks for easy supply of his products, saying that shows he doesn’t want anything to affect his profit margin.
He alleged that the company had been using Indians to suppress the voices of Nigerian workers until they could no longer take it and decided to join PENGASSAN to exercise their right of collective bargaining.
He further alleged that Dangote is working hard to destroy trade unionism in Nigeria, stressing that the labour movement in the country must take the fight “as the last battle” to ensure it does not happen.
Dangote wants to change the narrative that it is the employer that will have the right to determine if employees will be able to exercise their rights to collective bargaining. This is even worse than Abacha’s pronouncement to proscribe unions in those dark eras,” Olubiyi stated.
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While commending NLC and TUC for standing in solidarity with PENGASSAN, the labour leaders urged other unions to see the importance of joining in the struggle, noting that “injury to one is injury to all.”
He urged President Bola Tinubu not to listen to voices calling on him to proscribe trade unionism in the country, emphasising that it has come to stay all over the world as a way of balancing employer and employee relationships.
He dismissed claims that labour unions kill businesses, asserting that if they did not kill the existing companies, they would not kill Dangote. “PENGASSAN, in every company we are today, has shown that we are collaborators for business growth, and anyone can ask around.
The only set of employers that are willing to keep employees in penury are the ones that have negative feelings for collective bargaining.
Dangote should be prepared that collective bargaining will take a little bit more from him than the employees, but it will not be to kill his business.
“As Dangote has put quality assurance into other factors of production such as land, equipment, and raw materials, he must be ready for PENGASSAN, who is an agent of quality assurance in labour and employee remuneration. We want his business to thrive, but it will not be at the expense of workers’ remuneration. Oil and gas have a template for workers’ salaries all over the world, and Dangote Refinery will not be an exception.”
He described rumours that PENGASSAN is trying to sabotage Dangote as “absolutely untrue”, saying there is no evidence to prove it.
While commending the Dangote Group for making the massive investment in the oil and gas industry, the Oyo TUC chairman, however, implored the Dangote Group to obey the labour laws in the country.
Victor Ezeja is a passionate journalist, scholar and analyst of socioeconomic issues in Nigeria and Africa. He is skilled in energy reporting, business and economy, and holds a master's degree in mass communication.
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