ACF Condemns Machinations Against Dangote Refinery
The Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) has condemned the continuous sabotage of Dangote Refinery and urged the Nigerian government to take decisive action against those bent on scuttling the multi billion dollar company.
In a statement issued on Monday by Prof. T. A. Muhammad-Baba the
National Publicity Secretary of ACF, the group said this was necessary to ensure investors confidence as Nigeria seeks to enhance its economy.
The ACF particularly demanded appropriate sanction be meted to Petroleum and Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) for its “egregious refusal to a court order”.
“ACF rues the fact that from conception, implementation and commissioning, the Dangote Refinery facility has continued to face unrelenting onslaught of sorts, including logistical challenges, public regulatory agencies’ misbegotten concerns about the quality of the Complex’s products, crude oil supplies from the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC), distribution, pricing problems, etc. Trade associations and organized labour also weighed in with demands, threats and actual pickets, notably from the Independent Petroleum Marketing Association, National Union of Petro-leum and Gas Workers (NUPENG) and Petroleum and Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN).
” Through it all, the Refinery’s owner, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, persevered unrelentingly overcoming all sorts of obstacles, confident that the Refinery’s products will change the hitherto sordid narratives about petroleum products supply, long embroiled in controversies, sharp practices, supply bottlenecks, pricing inefficiencies, subsidy scandals, and other shenanigans by a motley of interests, to the detriment of the national economy, as exemplified by the embarrassing failure of the four public-owned refineries to work.
“Evidentially, the challenges are the handiworks of entrenched subterranean interests or the proverbial cabals, bent on maintaining an asphyxiating hold on the oil sector and the national economy.
“ACF acknowledge the rights of workers to join trade unions in line with constitutional provisions. What is questionable has been the forceful nature of demand for workers at the Dangote Refinery to join PENGASSAN. T
” The constitutional provision does not confer automatic membership on anyone; it is an individual’s right to accept or reject membership. ACF also believes Alhaji Aliko Dangote’s assertions that the welfare of workers and safety at the workplace remains a prime concerns of the Refinery’s Management.
“As things are, ACF endorses Dangote Refinery Company’s resort to seek legal protection against the attempts to cripple its operations. For that matter, it should be concerning to all law-abiding citizens that PENGASSAN refuses to comply with a subsisting court order against any disruption to the Refinery’s operations.
“ACF also aligns itself to Senator Adams Oshiomole’s and that of Senator Mohammed Ali Ndume’s recent recommendation on national television and BBC Hausa service respectively to the effect that the Refinery should be allowed to stabilise before its workers resort to unionism. ACF believes that a prime consideration for the workers should at this time be ensuring that the Refinery is fully functional as workplace before workers can unionise!”
The ACF said attempt at putting down the Dangote Petroleum complex was a potent disincentive to domestic and international investors because it sends wrong signals to investors.
It added that in line with international best practices, facilities and investments such as the Dangote Refinery complex, public or private, should be treated as strategic National Security Assets worthy of protection.
It believed that the challenges being faced by the Refinery would have been averted if this was done.
The ACF cited the example of the United States, where its former President halted the sale of the private-owned steel company to Japanese investors on account of national security interests, without attempting to nationalise the corporation.
The ACF, therefore, said it strongly supports the ongoing Federal Government-led negotiations to find a solution to the impasse, as well as welcomes the truce reached.
It calls that appropriate sanction be meted to PENGASSAN for the egregious refusal to a court order; setting up of a commission of enquiry, with judicial powers, to unearth the brains behind the incessant strikes by employees of vital national and private institutions such that strikes do not result in acts of sabotage; and encourages the Federal Government to take inventory of and declare any vital physical and non-physical facilities, intellectual property, etc., public or private, as strategic resources within the ambit of national security for necessary protection against threats from any source.
” The Dangote Refinery complex undoubtedly qualifies for inclusion into such a National Register of Assets,” it added.
The ACF also called on the Federal Government to take necessary measures, without abridging any workers’ constitutional rights to organise or unionise, to ensure that no labour union resorts to actions detrimental to strategic national assets and interests.
“As with any employer of labour, Dangote Refinery, should not be blackmailed into recruiting or retaining any with proclivity to sabotage or constitute threats to it.”
The ACF advised labour unions to be wary of actions that sabotage or discourage private sector investment.
