By Laraba MUREY
Amidst ongoing industrial dispute between Dangote Refinery and oil unions, the Arewa Consultative Forum, ACF, has alleged that there were calculated plots by entrenched interests to cripple the operations of the Dangote Petroleum Refinery.
It warned that such actions pose a grave threat to Nigeria’s economic stability and investment reputation.
The claim on Sunday is coming on the heels of claims by the owner of the refinery, billionaire businessman, Aliko Dangote, accusing powerful ‘oil mafias’ in Nigeria’s oil and gas sector of working relentlessly to destroy his $20 billion Dangote Petroleum Refinery, warning that the same forces which ruined Nigeria’s textile industry decades ago are now targeting his refinery.
Dangote made the allegation at the refinery’s first anniversary of petrol production.
According to him, the past year has been extremely difficult, but insisted the refinery was built to transform Nigeria’s oil sector.
“When we were getting suffocated, we would sell as good, we would charge as premium, which is still happening today, and then we would compete with the Russian product. And then the only way for us to keep that refinery going, we have to sell. And when we are going to sell, the same team, part of the mafia, they will now price us low.”
The ACF statement on Sunday signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Prof. T.A. Muhammad-Baba, expressed concern over the refinery’s challenges, including regulatory interference, crude oil disruptions and labour union disputes.
According to the Forum, the refinery, reputed as “Nigeria’s largest and most modern indigenous crude oil processing outfit”, has been subjected to “an unrelenting onslaught” since its inception.
“Evidentially, the challenges are the handiworks of entrenched subterranean interests or the proverbial cabals, bent on maintaining an asphyxiating hold on the oil sector and the national economy,” the ACF declared.
The Forum alleged that some vested interests are uncomfortable with the refinery’s potential to reform Nigeria’s petroleum products supply chain, which for decades has been mired in controversies, subsidy rackets, and inefficiencies.
“From conception, implementation and commissioning, the Dangote Refinery has faced all sorts of obstacles, confident that its success would change the sordid narrative about petroleum supply long dominated by sharp practices and inefficiencies,” the statement noted.
The ACF further condemned the alleged pressure on Dangote Refinery workers to join PENGASSAN, describing it as coercive and unconstitutional.
“What is questionable has been the forceful nature of demand for workers at the Dangote Refinery to join PENGASSAN. The constitutional provision does not confer automatic membership on anyone; it is an individual’s right to accept or reject membership,” it stressed.
Backing Alhaji Aliko Dangote’s legal action to protect the refinery from industrial disruption, the Forum expressed dismay that PENGASSAN had allegedly refused to obey a subsisting court order restraining it from interfering with operations at the facility.
“It should be concerning to all law-abiding citizens that PENGASSAN refuses to comply with a subsisting court order against any disruption to the Refinery’s operations,” the Forum stated.
The ACF aligned itself with calls by Senator Adams Oshiomhole and Senator Mohammed Ali Ndume, who both advised that workers should allow the refinery to stabilize before pursuing unionization.
“ACF believes that a prime consideration for the workers should at this time be ensuring that the Refinery is fully functional as a workplace before workers can unionize,” it added.
The Forum warned that attempts to destabilize the multi-billion-dollar refinery could discourage both domestic and international investors and send negative signals about Nigeria’s business climate.
“Putting down the Dangote Petroleum complex is a potent disincentive to domestic and international investors because it sends wrong signals to investors,” the statement read.
Describing the Dangote Refinery as a “strategic national asset”, ACF urged the Federal Government to protect it from what it termed “internal and external sabotage.”
It recommended that the refinery be listed in a National Register of Strategic Assets, ensuring it enjoys special protection under national security provisions.
The Forum also called for the establishment of a judicial commission of inquiry to identify and sanction individuals or groups behind recurring industrial actions that paralyze vital industries.
“We call for a commission of enquiry, with judicial powers, to unearth the brains behind incessant strikes by employees of vital national and private institutions, so that strikes do not result in acts of sabotage,” the statement said.
