I prefer Dangote Refinery’s monopoly than importing petrol – Oshiomhole

Senator Adams Oshiomhole, representing Edo North Senatorial District, has declared his support for Dangote Refinery in the heat of its disagreement with the oil workers’ union, Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN).

Speaking in an interview on ARISE News on Friday, the former president of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) stressed that the priority should be creating jobs locally rather than depending on foreign imports.

The former Edo State governor also described the refinery’s challenges and the labour dispute as “a very complex issue on a good day.”

Oshiomhole said, “I believe that it is not even constitutional right. It is a God-given right for human beings to associate in pursuance of their common interests as defined by them. These are hard core values I subscribe to and they also were guaranteed to the Nigeria constitution under section 40.”

He maintained that the escalation of the strike by PENGASSAN was uncalled for, stressing that it risked harming other workers and the wider economy.

“What I’m not sure is right is the ease with which PENGASSAN resorted to escalating the matter to a secondary level, what you call the secondary solidarity, to a point of shutting down the oil sector. I think that it is to protect a particular set of workers you do not then risk the job of several other workers.

“For example, those people selling tomatoes who can’t get for it to buy because there’s a quarrel between one Dangote refinery as a company and one union called PENGASSAN. Those are things I thought that PENGASSAN ought to take into account and pursue this principle.”

On Dangote’s refinery operations, Oshiomhole noted that the company was still in a delicate growth stage.

“I know that Dangote was commissioned just before President Buhari left office, but it commenced production several months after. So basically about a year, a year and a half. Given the size of the business and all the controversies and issues arising from where you get your crude, whether NNPC sells to you, whether ROC can sell the crude overseas, you pay a premium before you can get it. All of those issues are still there. I thought that PENGASSAN should recognize that an employer has to resist, mature, be strong enough to guarantee good pay and jobs.”

On the broader debate about Dangote’s role in the market, Oshiomhole was unequivocal: “I really think that Dangote Refinery has faced too many pressure points that we begin to wonder. I mean, when people say Dangote Refinery is a monopoly, I’m like, would you prefer a monopoly that creates jobs in Nigeria than an import monopoly, which is the PPPRA?”

He added, “What I know everywhere in the world is that unions support industrial policies that encourage local investment. Where they have located here, and they have started producing, we can go and organize their workers.”

On strengthening unions, Oshiomhole pointed to lapses in government oversight. “There’s is missing the role of the government, of the Ministry of Labor. You know, if you look at the labor laws, there is enough room for the Ministry of Labor to ensure that the process and procedures are observed before you invoke that weapon. But oftentimes this is lost.”

He also raised concerns about labour practices in Nigeria’s private sector, particularly in banks. “It shocks me that as we speak, about 60% or more of bank employees are contract staff. What it means is that these employees who dress well as if they are bankers, when they are thrown out, they have no gratuity. They are contract staff. They are not employees of the bank. Those for me are practices that must be stopped.”

Oshiomhole accused some unions of being compromised. “What I found out later is that they just pay what I call protection fee. Every month, they issue a check to the unions. But the union don’t really exist. They don’t have negotiating rights. Because if they do exist, they could not allow 80 percent, 70 percent of their employees to be contract staff.”