The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has instructed its affiliate unions to begin urgent mobilization and prepare for a nationwide industrial action against the Dangote Group, accusing the conglomerate of sustained anti-worker practices.
This came as the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria declared a nationwide strike against the refinery on Monday, causing operations at key oil and gas regulatory institutions to halt, including the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), and the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPPRA).
On Monday, the National Industrial Court in Abuja prevented PENGASSAN from taking industrial action against Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals FZE, preventing the union from cutting off crude oil and gas supplies to the $20 billion Lekki-based refinery.
However, PENGASSAN stated that it was unaware of the court injunction, claiming that court orders or processes were served by a court bailiff rather than through social media.
NLC President Joe Ajaero issued an internal message on Monday to the presidents and general secretaries of affiliate unions.
The directive comes after a dispute between Dangote Refinery and PENGASSAN. The oil union previously announced that more than 800 workers at the Dangote refinery were fired after attempting to form a union.
According to the union, around 2,000 expats, primarily from India, were hired to fill many of the positions.
Dangote has refuted the allegations, claiming that the layoffs were part of a restructure to increase safety and prevent sabotage and that more than 3,000 Nigerians remain working.
The stalemate has already prompted PENGASSAN to suspend crude and gas deliveries, resulting in a temporary closure of operations at the refinery, which is important to Nigeria’s efforts to reduce fuel imports and relieve foreign exchange pressure.
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Government mediators have since stepped in to avert further disturbance, with a meeting conducted in Abuja on Monday including Federal Government officials, PENGASSAN, and the Dangote Group.
The NLC president described the Dangote Group as waging a “protracted and deliberate anti-worker crusade” against the Nigerian working class.
“The ongoing battle with PENGASSAN and NUPENG is merely a symptom of a deeper sickness: a capitalist pathology of union-busting, worker enslavement, and gross impunity that defines the Group’s industrial relations strategy,” the NLC president wrote.
He accused the firm of acting “as a state within a state,” claiming that Dangote has long ignored Section 40 of the Nigerian Constitution, violated International Labour Organization Conventions 87 and 98, and disregarded national labor regulations with contempt.
“Their facilities are not workplaces but plantations of exploitation, where the dignity of the worker is systematically crushed to maximize profit for the few. The time for pleading and endless, fruitless dialogue is over. The moment for decisive, collective action is now,” Ajaero said.
The dispute is about more than jobs. The $20 billion refinery is key to Nigeria’s efforts to reduce gasoline imports and stabilize its volatile currency.
A strike that halts manufacturing would have a far-reaching economic impact.
The issue also highlights the enormous power of both Dangote, the country’s dominant industrial actor, and unions, which remain among the few institutions capable of mass mobilization.
The NLC urged all affiliate unions to put their members on immediate and full alert and to begin rigorous and comprehensive unionization of all workers at Dangote Group facilities under their authority.
It also directed unions to begin mobilizing members and resources for what it termed as a comprehensive and decisive engagement with the company.
The Congress stated that the goal of the action is to persuade Dangote to respect every worker’s freedom to freely join a union of their choice, to end all forms of intimidation and victimization, and to submit to the authority of Nigeria’s labor laws and institutions.
Each affiliate union has been instructed to form an Action Mobilization Committee and communicate directly with the NLC national office within 72 hours to coordinate strategy, logistics, and communications. Ajaero maintained that unity of goal and action is not negotiable.
“The impunity of the Dangote Group must be met with the resistance of organized labor. No amount of media verbiage and paid hirelings will stop us from fighting for our liberty in the face of apparent regulatory capture, where the state seems to have abdicated its responsibility to hold this behemoth accountable for its breaches of our laws,” the NLC boss said.
“The blood and sweat of Nigerian workers built this conglomerate; we will not let it become a monument to their oppression. Together, we stand! Together, we will overcome.”
NLC affiliates include the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers, the National Union of Chemical, Footwear, Rubber, Leather, and Non-Metallic Products Workers, the National Union of Food, Beverage, and Tobacco Workers, and the National Union of Air Transport Workers.
Other organizations include the National Union of Electricity Employees, the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria, the National Union of Textile, Garment, and Tailoring Workers of Nigeria, the National Union of Metalworkers of Nigeria, the Industrial Sector Senior Staff Association of Nigeria, the Steel and Engineering Workers Union of Nigeria, and the Medical and Health Professional Senior Staff Association of Nigeria.
