The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has condemned the stance of Vice President Kashim Shettima on the ongoing crisis between the Dangote Refinery and the Petroleum and Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN).
President of the NLC, Mr Joe Ajaero, in a statement on Tuesday the occasion of World Day for Decent Work Day, described the Vice President’s statement as protecting the $20 billion refinery over the welfare of Nigerian workers.
Speaking at an economic summit on Monday, Mr Shettima had shown unwavering support for Dangote and admonished union members who embarked on a strike, which truncated operations at the 650,000 barrels per day facility last week.
In the statement, the NLC lamented the support from the number 2 citizen of Nigeria, saying it will not stand for the exploitation of Nigerians.
“The serial violations of the ideals of decent work are a ticking time bomb. The NLC, in alliance with the entire working people of Nigeria, remains the vanguard of the resistance against capitalist exploitation and its quest to capture our governance institutions and pauperise the masses further. 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!”
“On this day that marks decent work day, we therefore consider the statement attributed to the Vice President of the federation as a national tragedy, as he presupposes that the Nigerian State promotes lawlessness. However, we doubt that the President of the federation will agree with him.
“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. 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,” parts of the statement added.
The group also said it stands solidly behind the Nigerian workers, warning the “ruling elites” to stop the assault on the poor masses.
“On this World Day for Decent Work, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) stands in solidarity with the millions of Nigerian workers who toil daily under the yoke of exploitation and impunity. We use this occasion to sound a clarion call to the Nigerian state and the ruling elites, that the relentless assault on the pillars of Decent Work must end. It is in our collective interests to protect the tenets of Decent work,” it noted.