Nigerians are grateful to Alhaji Aliko Dangote for investing 20bn usd into the refinery operations in the oil and gas sector, but he has to be careful not to water down the accolades that should naturally come with that.
To be factual and straight forward, Dangote has invested for the purpose of making profits and not as a charity organisation. So it is to that extent that we must not be carried away with emotional thoughts that can becloud our proper sense of judgment.
Dangote Invested in the Refinery to make more money – pure and simple.
*But today, Dangote wants workers to take permissions from him before they exercise their rights that the constitution of Nigeria and that of other countries have freely given to them. Dangote wants to be in charge of workers right simply because he invested 20bn usd. And what Dangote wants all of us to do is to keep quiet because we dont have such money to invest. Adolf Hitler and other terrible tyrannical leaders have not done anything worse.*
Dangote did the best in terms of quality in all other aspects of production but labour. Dangote bought and assembled the world best set of equipment to build the refinery. Dangote is getting grade A raw materials to feed into his lines for quality output. Dangote will not allow local crude production to impact his operation. He will go abroad to get the best of crude and also timely. Dangote located his refinery in a choice area to make logistics easy and area where he can rest from communal issues, Lagos Centre of Excellence.
But when it comes to labour and renumeration, Dangote feels that is the area where he can cut corners. Dangote took workers abroad for elaborate and quality training to make sure the perform optimally and bring out quality product from his refinery but when it comes to their renumeration, Dangote saw an opportunity to cut corners just like most cunny capitalist will want to do.
For the avoidance of doubt, Dangote is only interested in his product and profitability and not with the welfare of the workers. Anyone who is not convinced about that yet must be deceiving himself or herself. For you to know that Dangote will not allow anything to touch his profit margin, he woke up one day to acquire 4000 trucks for an easy supply of his products.
If anyone thinks that Dangote workers have not been complaining bitterly about their welfare for a long time, those people must be living in self-denial. But Dangote used Indians to suppress the voice of those Nigerian until the workers could not take it any longer and had to approach PENGASSAN for the purpose of collective bargaining, which they have express right to.
But today, Dangote is asking the Federation of Nigeria to suspend that seection 40 of our constitution for him to continue to be in business, Dangote is asking Nigeria to forget about ILO Convention 87 and 98 amongst many others that we are signatory to for him to be in business.
Total, ExxonMobil, Chevron, Agip, BakerHughes, Shell, Halliburton, NNPC, NLNG and many other private companies who have invested over 100 times of what Dangote is investing did not ask Nigeria to become lawless for them to break even or remain in business. But Dangote must get that because he is perceived to be doing Nigeria a favour.
The reason why the Labour movement in Nigeria must take this as the last battle is that Dangote is working hard to mutilate the core fabric of trade unionism in Nigeria. Dangote wants to change the narrative that it is the employer that will have the right to determine if employees will be able to exercise their rights to collective bargaining. This is even worse than Abacha’s pronouncement to proscribe unions in those dark eras.
The entire Labour movement must not see this as a PENGASSAN issue, and Kudos to both NLC and TUC that they are already geared up for this last battle that will make or mar them They must fight this with all the strength left in them. It is that important.
We have seen many educated illiterates like Ali Ndume asking a civilised President and who is believed to be once a member of a trade union, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to proscribe union because they are fighting for their rights. The President is smart enough not to listen to such marabouts like Ali Ndume as they will still be the ones to use it against him when it is time for politics.
The President is a full democrat and one who believes there must be balance in employer and employee relationships, and Trade Unionism has come to stay all over the world.
I wouldn’t want to address many ignorant position of many all over social media on why private universities are not in ASUU, on saying PENGASSAN should go and build their refinery if they must organise members to join them, on whether private companies can have unions etc. It is a confirmation that we still have a large block of uneducated English speaking individuals, and Ali Ndume is their coordinator.
Workers in any organisation, public or private, have the right to collective bargaining. If the Lecturer of AFE Babalola University so wish today that they want to belong to ASUU or form a union that is for private universities, not even the great AFE Babalola will stop them. He has no power under the law or any contract of employment to do so.
Many were asking what if the workers of Dangote or any other company signed an agreement at the point of recruitment that they will not join the union. Let us agree that it was the case, that contract or agreement to the extent that it is inconsistent with our constitution and Trade union act, is to that extent null and void and of no effect and consequence.
The case of BakerHughes and the 20 in the year 2016 had laid this to rest as concillated upon by the Federal Ministry of Labour when Dr Chris Ngige and Mrs Omoebie Akpan were at the helm of affairs as the Minister of Labour and Director of TUSIR respectively. This is also the position of NICN in various other cases.
But it is a shame for people for the sake of contributing. They will be talking authoritatively on issues they know next to nothing about with full chest. That is highest level of illiteracy. But it will be a good opportunity for many of them to learn if they are humble enough to do so.
The solution is very simple, and as much as we appreciate Dangote input and investment into the oil and gas industry, it is time to come down from his high horse and listen to the voice of reasoning. He should call back his workers and open health room for negotiation as Total, Mobil, Chevron, NNPC, NUPRC, NLNG have done. It is only a novice that will say union kills business. It is purely a lie from the pit of hell. If Union did not kill all those companies I mentioned above, union will not kill Dangote. PENGASSAN, in every company we are today, has shown that we are collaborators for business growth, and anyone can ask around.
The only set of employer that are willing to keep employees in penury are the ones that have negative feelings for collective bargaining.
Dangote should be prepared that collective bargaining will take a little bit more from him to the employees, but it will not be to kill his business. As Dangote has put quality assurance into other factors of production such as land, equipment, and raw materials, he must be ready for PENGASSAN, who is an agent of quality assurance in labour and employee renumeration We want his business to thrive, but it will not be at the expense of workers’ renumeration. Oil and gas have a template for workers’ salaries all over the world, and Dangote Refinery will not be an exception.
Before Dangote Refinery was licensed to operate on the shore of Nigeria, he agreed to abide by the laws of the land. One of those laws is the right of workers to collective bargaining under trade union. It is time for him to abide by that as a good citizen of Nigeria.
The rumour and narrative of PENGASSAN trying to sabotage Dangote is absolutely untrue, and there is no evidence to say otherwise. Running helter skelter to the court will also not remove workers’ right to freedom of association in trade unionism.
Once again, we thank Alhaji Aliko Dangote and his group for venturing into oil and gas and massively investing into it, but we implore him to play by the rules of the land that is bigger than any individual.
We call on all well-meaning Nigerians to prevail of Dangote management to do the needful and not put Nigeria and Nigerians through needless hardship.
Injury to one is injury to all. Injury to Dangote Refinery workers is injury to all Nigerian workers.
Aluta Continua
Victoria Accerta
Comrade Bosun Olabiyi is the Trade Union Congress (TUC) Chairman in Oyo State abd former National Financial Secretary of PENGASSAN
