Human rights lawyer, Femi Falana, SAN, has called on the Federal Government to urgently intervene in the industrial dispute between the National Union of Petroleum and Gas Workers (NUPENG) and the Dangote Petroleum Refinery over alleged anti-labour practices.
The union had on Sunday directed its members across the oil and gas industry to embark on an indefinite strike from Monday, September 9, in protest against a policy requiring newly recruited drivers to sign undertakings not to join any existing union.
In a statement issued under the platform of the Alliance on Surviving COVID-19 and Beyond (ASCAB), Falana condemned the policy, describing it as unconstitutional and a violation of both Nigerian and international labour laws.
He argued that the move contravenes Section 40 of the 1999 Constitution, Section 12 of the Trade Union Act, and Article 10 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights. He further noted it breaches the International Labour Organisation’s Conventions 87 and 98, which guarantee freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining, as well as the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Falana urged the Registrar of Trade Unions to call the Dangote Petroleum Refinery to order and pressed the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) to check what he described as the company’s monopolistic tendencies, which he said run contrary to the FCCPC Act of 2018.
“Even though powerful trade unions exist in all capitalist countries including the UK and the United States, the Dangote Group is determined to obliterate trade unions in Nigeria because it has been allowed to operate outside the ambit of the law,” Falana said.
He stressed that workers’ right to unionise has deep historical roots in Nigeria, dating back to the colonial era, and insisted it could not be erased. Falana reaffirmed ASCAB’s full support for NUPENG’s strike, warning that attempts to undermine workers’ rights would be firmly resisted.
