Stop the witch-hunting against Dangote, Ndume warns unions

 

 

Stop the witch-hunt against Dangote, Ndume warns unions

 

Former Senate Leader, Senator Ali Ndume, yesterday slammed labour unions and oil industry stakeholders over what he described as a deliberate witch-hunt against the Dangote Refinery.

 

His warning followed the face-off between the refinery’s management, the Nigerian Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) and the Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association of Nigeria (DAPPMAN).

 

NUPENG had recently embarked on an industrial action, shutting depots over the refinery’s alleged refusal to allow truck drivers to join the union as provided under the Trade Union Act. DAPPMAN, on its part, accused the refinery of stifling competition by selling products to international traders at cheaper rates than to local marketers.

 

Though the Department of State Services (DSS) has waded in, tensions remain high in the downstream sector.

 

Ndume, in a statement in Abuja, decried what he called a “poisonous media narrative” designed to tarnish Dangote’s image before Nigerians and the international community.

 

He urged NUPENG, PENGASSAN and other stakeholders to embrace dialogue with the refinery instead of heating up the polity.

 

“Our common goal should be to balance labour rights with national development, not to put ordinary citizens at the mercy of a needless power tussle,” Ndume said.

 

The senator recalled that successive administrations had granted refinery licenses to private operators but most failed to utilise them.

 

“Before Dangote took the risk to build his refinery, 12 licenses were issued as far back as 2002, and another nine in 2007 after the first batch was revoked. Buhari’s administration also issued licenses for modular refineries. How many were built? Those who failed to act are now ganging up to accuse Dangote of monopoly,” he said.

 

Ndume, who represents Borno South, insisted that it was wrong to talk of monopoly in a deregulated sector.

 

“It is wrong to cry monopoly in a deregulated industry. No player has been given undue concession to the detriment of others,” he said.

 

He urged regulators, including the Ministry of Petroleum Resources and the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), to prevent disputes from disrupting fuel supply nationwide.