Some members of the National Association of Oduduwa Students, the Coalition of Yoruba Students, and the Yoruba Movement are currently holding a peaceful protest in support of the Dangote Refinery, which is embroiled in a dispute with oil unions PENGASSAN, NUPENG, and the Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association of Nigeria.
The protesters, who gathered on Tuesday at Iwo Road Roundabout, at the end of the Ibadan/Lagos Expressway in Ibadan, Oyo State, chanted various songs to demonstrate their solidarity.
They are marching across key roadways, brandishing banners with phrases such as “Don’t Kill Dangote Refinery,” “#StopsabotagingfuelinNigeria,” “#EndPENGASSAN,” “#EndDAPPMAN,” “#DangoteRefineryIsANationalAsset,” “#StopSabotage,” and so on.
Clad in matching shirts emblazoned with “Don’t Kill Dangote Refinery,” the students stated that the protest is intended to draw government attention to what they describe as a “coordinated attempt by vested interests” to disrupt the operations of the refinery, Nigeria’s largest industrial investment and Africa’s largest single-train refinery.
The NAOS president, Olalere Adetunji, urged President Bola Tinubu and relevant government agencies to act quickly.
“We want to use this period to appeal to the Federal Government to protect the refinery and ensure that labor and marketers’ actions do not derail Nigeria’s move toward fuel self-sufficiency.”
As the protest continues, security personnel, including police and members of the Federal Road Safety Corps, are on the scene to preserve order.
