By Ihechi Enyinnaya
The Federal Government has summoned the management of Dangote Group and the leadership of the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) to an emergency meeting scheduled for Monday, September 8.
The meeting comes as oil workers, under NUPENG, insist on commencing a nationwide strike over alleged anti-union practices. The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has already thrown its weight behind the action, directing its affiliates across the 36 states to prepare for a total shutdown.
If unresolved, the strike could trigger widespread fuel scarcity, disrupt economic activities, and heighten social tension across the country.
Meanwhile, the NLC, which had endorsed the strike, has written to its over 54 affiliates and 36 councils to prepare to join the planned strike by Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers, NUPENG, saying the battle, among others, is the survival of Labour movement and dignity of workers.
NUPENG had Friday threatened to embark on strike over what it calls the Dangote Group’s “crude and dangerous anti-union practices, monopolistic agenda, and indecent industrial relations strategies.”
In its petition that set the stage for the strike, NUPENG accused Africa’s richest man of running his refinery and subsidiaries on “crude and dangerous anti-union practices, monopolistic agenda, and indecent industrial relations strategies.”
“The crude and dangerous anti-union practices, monopolistic agenda, and indecent industrial relations strategies being pursued by Aliko Dangote and his associates represent not just an attack on petroleum workers, but a full-blown declaration of war against the Nigerian working class, trade unionism, and the principle of Decent Work,” NUPENG declared.
The union alleged that Dangote Refinery “pays one of the lowest wages in the Oil and Gas sector in Nigeria today and treats its staff members beneath acceptable standards,” warning that its latest recruitment condition barring drivers from joining any oil and gas union violates Section 40 of the Nigerian Constitution, the Labour Act, and ILO Conventions 98 and 87.
“This marks a dangerous road to fascism in industrial relations, where workers are treated as slaves without voice or dignity,” NUPENG warned.