The Nigeria Labour Congress has directed its affiliate unions to begin urgent mobilisation and prepare for a nationwide industrial action against the Dangote Group, accusing the conglomerate of sustained anti-worker practices.
This came as the nationwide strike declared by the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria on Monday against the refinery paralysed operations at key oil and gas regulatory institutions, including the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, and the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority.
Also on Monday, the National Industrial Court in Abuja restrained PENGASSAN from embarking on its industrial action against Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals FZE, barring the union from halting crude oil and gas supply to the $20bn Lekki-based refinery.
However, PENGASSAN declared that it was not aware of the court injunction, arguing that court orders or processes were served via a court bailiff and not through social media.
In an internal memo shared with The PUNCH on Monday and addressed to the presidents and general secretaries of affiliate unions, NLC President Joe Ajaero placed NLC affiliates on alert.
The directive follows a clash between Dangote refinery and PENGASSAN. The oil union earlier announced that more than 800 workers at the Dangote refinery were dismissed after attempting to unionise. The union alleged that many of the jobs were replaced with more than 2,000 expatriates, mainly from India. Dangote has denied the accusations, saying the layoffs were part of a restructuring to improve safety and prevent sabotage, adding that over 3,000 Nigerians remain employed.
The standoff has already led PENGASSAN to order a halt to crude and gas supplies, forcing a temporary shutdown of operations at the refinery, which is critical to Nigeria’s efforts to cut fuel imports and ease pressure on foreign exchange.
Government mediators have since stepped in to prevent prolonged disruption, as a meeting held in Abuja on Monday, involving officials of the Federal Government, PENGASSAN, and Dangote Group.
Ajaero described the Dangote Group as waging a “protracted and deliberate anti-worker crusade” against the Nigerian working class. “The ongoing battle with PENGASSAN and NUPENG is merely a symptom of a deeper sickness; a capitalist pathology of union-busting, worker enslavement, and gross impunity that defines the Group’s industrial relations strategy,” he wrote.
He accused the company of operating “as a state within a state,” alleging that Dangote has for too long flouted Section 40 of the Nigerian Constitution, violated International Labour Organisation Conventions 87 and 98, and treated national labour laws with contempt.
“Their facilities are not workplaces but plantations of exploitation, where the dignity of the worker is systematically crushed to maximise profit for the few. The time for pleading and endless, fruitless dialogue is over. The moment for decisive, collective action is now,” Ajaero said.
The row is about more than jobs. The $20bn refinery is central to Nigeria’s efforts to reduce fuel imports and stabilise its shaky currency. A strike that halts production would quickly be felt across the economy. The dispute also casts a spotlight on the outsized clout of both Dangote, the country’s dominant industrial player, and the unions, which remain among the few institutions capable of mass mobilisation.
The NLC directed all affiliate unions to place their members on immediate and full alert and to commence, with immediate effect, vigorous and comprehensive unionisation of all workers within Dangote Group facilities under their jurisdiction.
It further instructed unions to begin mobilising members and resources for what it described as a full-scale and decisive engagement with the conglomerate. The Congress said the aim of the action is to compel Dangote to respect the right of every worker to freely join a union of their choice, cease all forms of intimidation and victimisation, and submit to the authority of Nigeria’s labour laws and institutions.
