Dangote refinery versus PENGASSAN: NLC orders nationwide strike
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has ordered full mobilisation of its affiliate unions in preparation for a nationwide confrontation with the Dangote Group.
It accused the conglomerate of waging an “anti-worker crusade” against the Nigerian working class.
In an memo signed by Joe Ajaero, NLC President, the labour body described the Dangote Group as operating “for too long as a state within a state,” flouting constitutional provisions, international labour conventions, and national laws governing workers’ rights.
“This letter serves as a formal and urgent request in response to the protracted and deliberate anti-worker crusade being waged by the Dangote Group against the Nigerian working class,” Ajaero said.
According to him, the current disputes with oil workers’ unions PENGASSAN and NUPENG were “merely a symptom of a deeper sickness.”
“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 further accused the conglomerate of treating workplaces like “plantations of exploitation,” where workers’ dignity was consistently trampled.
“Their facilities are not workplaces but plantations of exploitation, where the dignity of the worker is systematically crushed to maximise profit for the few,” Ajaero said.
Declaring that the era of negotiations had ended, Ajaero said that “the time for pleading and endless, fruitless dialogue is over. The moment for decisive, collective action is now.”
He announced that all affiliate unions had been placed on “Immediate and full alert.”
The memo directed unions to commence immediate unionisation drives across Dangote Group facilities nationwide, describing the task as a “strategic priority.”
It further instructed affiliates to prepare for “a full-scale, decisive engagement against the Dangote Group’s anti-labour stance.”
Among the key demands outlined were that the conglomerate must “unconditionally respect the right of every worker to freely join a union of their choice, cease all forms of intimidation, victimisation, and union-busting activities, and submit to the authority of our nation’s labour laws and institutions.”
Each affiliate union has also been ordered to establish an Action Mobilisation Committee and report to the NLC National Secretariat within 72 hours for coordination of strategy, logistics, and communication. “Unity of purpose and action is non-negotiable,” the memo warned.
“The impunity of the Dangote Group must be met with the resistance of organised labour.
“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!!”
