From Okwe Obi, Abuja
A Coalition of Civil Society Organisations in Nigeria (COCSON), Nigerian Interfaith Forum (NIF), National Coalition for Market Men, Women and Artisans (NACOMWA) and Petroleum Consumers’ Protection Alliance (PCPA) have called on the Federal Government to support the Dangote Refinery.
The group observed that the actions and threats by the Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers’ Association of Nigeria (DAPPMAN), and the ill-timed strike threats by Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), Trade Union Congress (TUC) and Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) represent nothing short of a direct assault on the Nigerians and the economy.
COCSON’s President, Ibrahim Suleiman; NIF’s national chairman, Mathew Ayodele; NACOMWA’s national president, Boma Agbede and PCPA’s chairman, Yusuf Danladi, in a statement yesterday, charged President Bola Tinubu to hold the unions responsible if there is a breakdown of law and order in country
They claimed that for decades, Nigerians have been held hostage by a cartel that thrives on import dependency, round-tripping, subsidy scams and artificial scarcity.
Specifically, they observed that DAPPMAN has chosen to undermine the Dangote Refinery and other indigenous refining initiatives because they fear competition, transparency and efficiency.
According to them, DAPPMAN’s opposition to Dangote Refinery’s emergence as a major force in local refining is not about policy or about patriotism but about preserving their stranglehold over Nigerians.
“Their agenda is to keep fuel importation alive, so they can continue profiteering at the expense of ordinary citizens who are already battered by poverty, unemployment and inflation,” they said
They totally condemned DAPPMAN’s anti-people agenda, saying, “We are strongly opposed to any strike action by PENGASSAN, NUPENG or TUC designed to sabotage Dangote Refinery and local refining.
“We declare our unwavering support for the Dangote Refinery and other indigenous refineries as the path to energy security, job creation and economic sovereignty.
“We support filing a lawsuit against DAPPMAN for deliberate economic sabotage and anti-competition practices.
“We support the organisation of mass rallies to the National Assembly, the Presidential Villa and the Nigeria Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Agency (NMDPRA) to demand the scrapping of DAPPMAN.
“We support mobilisation of international advocacy, writing to the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the African Union (AU) and the United Nations (UN) bodies to expose how DAPPMAN is weaponizing petroleum products against the Nigerian people.
“We demand that the government stands firm with the Dangote Refinery and accelerate policies that will break the cartel’s stranglehold once and for all,” the statement read.
The post Protect Dangote Refinery from DAPPMAN, PENGASSAN’s threats, FG charged appeared first on The Sun Nigeria.
