By Kunle Sanni –
The Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) has strongly criticised former Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) President and Senator representing Edo North, Adams Oshiomhole, over his remarks on the ongoing industrial dispute between the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) and the management of Dangote Refinery.
Oshiomhole, in an interview on Arise TV on Friday, described PENGASSAN’s strike action as “hasty and unfair to other workers,” arguing that the union’s approach could jeopardise more jobs than it seeks to protect. “When you are pursuing a dispute, the tools you deploy must be such that they do not undermine other people’s jobs,” he said.
Reacting in a statement jointly signed by its President, Williams Akporeha, and General Secretary, Afolabi Olawale, NUPENG accused Oshiomhole of betraying the labour movement and misrepresenting labour laws.
“We watched with utter disappointment as a former labour leader transformed into a vocal advocate for corporate oppression, actively campaigning against the very rights he once championed,” the statement read. “His attempts to justify the victimisation of workers for exercising their fundamental rights of association and peaceful protest are not only nauseating but a flagrant misrepresentation of Nigerian labour law and ILO standards.”
Titled “Senator Adams Aliyu Oshiomhole’s Undistinguished Anti-Worker Vitriol,” the statement further accused the senator of “historical revisionism and political amnesia,” faulting him for ignoring the alleged mass sack of 800 engineers at the refinery while criticising the strike instead.
Citing Section 31 of the Trade Unions Act, Cap T14, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004, NUPENG maintained that PENGASSAN’s solidarity strike was lawful. “The principle that ‘an injury to one is an injury to all’ remains the foundational ethic of trade unionism globally,” the union stated.
NUPENG described Oshiomhole’s comments as “a dangerous toxin designed to weaken the resolve of the working class,” likening him to “the Judas Iscariot of Nigerian trade unionism.”
The union also expressed dismay that Oshiomhole, a former member of the International Labour Organisation’s (ILO) Governing Council, would make such remarks, describing them as evidence of “monumental ignorance of trade unionism.”
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