By Gloria Ikibah
The House of Representatives has set up an ad-hoc committee headed by Speaker Tajudeen Abass, comprising members from the council of leadership of the House to look into the feud between petroleum workers and Dangote refineries.
This resolution was sequel to the adoption of a motion of urgent public importance moved by Rep. alhassan Ado Doguwa and Rep. abdulsamad Dasuki on “The need to Protect Strategic Private Investments from Adversarial Unionism”, on Tuesday at plenary.
Debating the motion Rep. Doguwa said that the recent face-off between the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) and the Dangote Refinery, located within the Lekki Free Trade Zone, which culminated in a strike action that disrupted operations at the $20 billion refinery — the largest single-train refinery in the world.
According to him, the industrial action led to a disruption in Nigeria’s crude oil production, with a reported daily loss of approximately 200,000 barrels over a period of three days.
He further asserted that the disruption worsened the fuel supply situation across the country, resulting in scarcity and long queues at filling stations in several states, thereby causing severe hardship for ordinary Nigerians.
The motion reads: “Aware that the Dangote Refinery is a strategic private investment of immense national importance, with the potential to guarantee energy security, reduce import dependency, generate employment, and conserve foreign exchange;
“Further aware that the Dangote Refinery operates within a Free Trade Zone, and therefore falls under the regulatory framework of the Nigeria Export Processing Zones Authority (NEPZA), particularly Section 18(5) of the Nigeria Export Processing Zones Act which clearly states:
“Employment in the Free Zone shall be governed by rules and regulations made by the Authority and not subject to the provisions of any enactments relating to employment matters.”
The lawmakers expressed concern that actions by labour unions that disregard the legal protections conferred on Free Zones under the NEPZA Act not only constitute a breach of law but also create a hostile investment environment that may deter future local and foreign investors.
They fear that if private investments of strategic national importance are continually subjected to unlawful disruptions by adversarial unionism, Nigeria risks not only the failure of key economic assets but also the erosion of investor confidence necessary for national growth and development.
