Ali Ndume, the former leader of the Senate, warned labor unions and oil industry stakeholders on Wednesday against what he called an increasing effort to demonise Dangote Refinery.
His participation comes after the Nigerian Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers and the Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association of Nigeria clashed with the Dangote Refinery’s management.
Due to the refinery’s purported unwillingness to permit truck drivers to join the union in accordance with the Trade Union Act, NUPENG recently started an industrial action campaign and closed depots.
DAPPMAN, for its side, claimed that the refinery was suppressing competition by selling goods to foreign buyers at lower prices than Nigerian sellers.
Tensions have continued in the downstream industry despite the Department of State Services’ subsequent intervention to settle the conflict with the workers’ union.
Ndume cautioned against what he described as “a poisonous media narrative to paint Dangote in a bad light in the eyes of Nigerians and the international community” in a statement released in Abuja on Wednesday.
“Instead of causing division and excessive sensationalism in the media, I implore NUPENG, PENGASSAN, and all other interested parties to have a positive conversation with Dangote.
“Our shared objective should be to strike a balance between labor rights and the demands of national development and not subject common people to an unnecessary struggle for power,” he stated.
Recalling that prior administrations attempted to persuade private operators to construct refineries, the senator bemoaned the fact that many licensees did not accept the challenge.
“Many Nigerians had been granted licenses by previous administrations before Dangote took the risk to build his refinery,” he remarked. How did they handle it? Some of them simply profited from the allocation of crude oil incentives.
As far as I can recall, licenses to construct refineries and lessen reliance on imported fuel were given to 12 private operators as early as 2002. Following the revocation of the first batch, the Department of Petroleum Resources issued nine fresh licenses to private investors in the second round of licensing in 2007.
“Those posing as fuel importers today failed to take the initiative to band together and construct refineries. Once more, private investors were given permits to construct modular refineries during the Buhari administration. They are banding together to wrongly accuse Dangote of monopolizing the market, but how many of them have really even looked at the surface?
Borno South representative Ndume said that it was incorrect to charge Dangote with trying to monopolize the political sector.
According to the Petroleum Industry Act, the Federal Government has already taken action to deregulate the industry and make room for fair competition, the former Senate chief whip further contended.
“In an industry that has been deregulated, discussing monopolies is incorrect. No player has received a special favor at the expense of others, and there are no intentional impediments against anyone,” he continued.
He called on authorities, such as the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) and the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, to intervene and stop disagreements from jeopardizing the distribution of petroleum products.
