According to a statement signed by NLC President, Joe Ajaero, and sighted by KogiTribune, the labour body directed workers across the country to prepare for a solidarity action should the Dangote Group fail to immediately halt alleged anti-worker policies.
NUPENG had announced that it would commence an indefinite strike from tomorrow to protest what it termed Dangote’s refusal to respect trade union rights, its dominance of the petroleum distribution sector, and the casualization of workers.
NLC’s Position
In its strongly worded statement, the NLC condemned the alleged violations by Dangote companies, stressing that the attacks on NUPENG amount to an attack on the entire Nigerian working class.
“We will not stand by while one conglomerate seeks to enslave the Nigerian working class and trample on the hard-won rights of unions,” the statement read.
The NLC accused Dangote of operating a “monopolistic capitalist strategy” that undermines competition and entrenches exploitative practices across multiple sectors, including cement, sugar, flour, and now petroleum.
It further alleged that:
- Dangote Refinery pays some of the lowest wages in Nigeria’s oil and gas sector.
- Workers are systematically denied the right to freely associate and join unions.
- Thousands of Nigerians remain unemployed while foreign workers are recruited into Dangote companies.
- The company thrives on casualization, poor wages, and unsafe working conditions, in violation of Nigeria’s labour laws and international conventions.
Warning to Federal Government
The NLC called on the Federal Government to urgently intervene by compelling Dangote and his associates, including Alhaji Sayyu Dantata, to comply with labour standards.
“We call on the Nigerian people to see through the deception: this is not philanthropy, it is plunder; it is not development, it is dispossession and enslavement,” the statement added.
The labour body warned that failure to act would make the government complicit in what it termed “the privatization of Nigeria’s energy future and the enslavement of its workforce.”
Nationwide Mobilization
Placing all state councils and industrial unions on “red alert,” the NLC vowed to resist what it described as “the tyranny of monopoly capital” and declared that its solidarity with NUPENG is non-negotiable.
“If the Dangote Group does not immediately halt its anti-union and anti-people agenda, we will not hesitate to mobilize all workers across the length and breadth of this country for the necessary actions to protect our dignity and defend Nigeria from the clutches of monopoly capital,” the statement warned.
The strike action, if implemented, could paralyze petroleum distribution across the country, deepening the economic and social challenges already confronting Nigerians.
