The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has taken a swipe at Vice President Kashim Shettima for his recent comments defending the Dangote Refinery amid its industrial dispute with the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN).
In a strongly worded statement issued on Tuesday to mark the World Day for Decent Work, NLC President Joe Ajaero accused the Vice President of siding with capitalists against the working class and warned that the government’s position was “a national tragedy” that could deepen social unrest in the country.
“We condemn in the strongest terms this deeply troubling statement by the Vice President, Kashim Shettima, that the Dangote Group is a ‘national asset’ and insinuating, therefore, that it should be exempt from obeying the nation’s labour laws,” Ajaero said.
“This statement is not only an affront to the rule of law but a national tragedy. It is a public declaration that capital, when sufficiently concentrated, is above the law — that money is sovereign and can undermine decent work principles.”
The labour leader accused the government of promoting impunity and lawlessness by protecting big corporations while ignoring the plight of ordinary Nigerian workers.
“By encouraging this lawlessness, the government is promoting a disdain for our nation’s institutions and emboldening the forces of impunity that have held our nation captive,” Ajaero said.
“This deliberate abdication of responsibility to protect Nigerian workers and the vulnerable is a declaration of war on the long-suffering citizens of Nigeria.”
Ajaero insisted that the NLC would resist any attempt to erode the rights of workers under the pretext of protecting national assets.
“We will not surrender the rights of Nigerian workers on the altar of profit. We will mobilize, we will organize, and we will fight back. We insist that there are no sacred cows,” he declared.
The NLC accused the Dangote Group of “brazenly violating” the rights of its workers to freedom of association and described the refinery’s labour practices as a “national tragedy.”
“This dangerous pronouncement serves to green-light the mindless and greedy actions of the Dangote Group, which has brazenly violated the rights of its workers to freedom of association and the right to join the trade union of their choice,” Ajaero said.
“Dangote, with its illegal actions, is not a national asset but a national tragedy.”
The labour body also linked the refinery’s alleged labour violations to a broader pattern of impunity spreading across Nigeria’s industrial sector, citing recent mass layoffs at the NLNG Train 7 project in Bonny, Rivers State.
“As we speak, the contractors constructing NLNG Train 7 in Bonny seem to have borrowed a leaf from Dangote and have sacked thousands of workers, replacing them with Asians,” the NLC said. “Their offence: demanding that the taxes they have paid to the Government be remitted according to law.”
Ajaero cautioned that no corporation, no matter how powerful or connected, should be allowed to operate outside the boundaries of Nigerian law.
“No company, no matter how big, strategic, or well-connected, can operate outside the law or be bigger than Nigeria,” he stated. “If the Dangote Refinery is to be granted rights and privileges over and above the law, then the government must be prepared for the storms that such an injustice will inevitably unleash. There can be no peace without justice.”
The NLC reiterated its demand for stronger enforcement mechanisms to ensure compliance with Nigeria’s labour laws and called for the end of what it described as the government’s “sacred cow syndrome.”
“The government must demonstrate, through decisive action, that the law is no respecter of persons. The State’s duty is to protect the weak and vulnerable worker from the paws of greedy capitalists, not to offer them as sacrificial lambs,” Ajaero said.
“We call for the strengthening of our labour administration institutions to ensure ruthless enforcement of compliance with all laws governing industrial relations. The era of impunity must end.”
Ajaero urged Nigerian workers to remain united in defence of their rights and warned that the NLC would not hesitate to mobilize against any form of exploitation or suppression of workers’ freedoms.
“The working class and the poor masses of Nigeria are the true creators of the nation’s wealth, and we will not stand idly by while our rights are auctioned to the highest bidder,” he added.
