No Sacred Cow’, NLC faults Shettima’s defence of Dangote Refinery over PENGASSAN
‘No Sacred Cow’, NLC faults Shettima’s defence of Dangote Refinery over PENGASSAN
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has condemned the stance of Vice President Kahim Shettima on the ongoing crisis between the Dangote Refinery and members of the Petroleum and Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN). Joe Ajaero, President of the NLC, in a Tuesday statement on the occasion of “World Day for Decent Work Day,” described the Vice President’s statement as protecting the Refinery over the welfare of Nigerian workers.
“The serial violations of the ideals of decent work are a ticking time bomb. The NLC, in alliance with the entire working people of Nigeria, remains the vanguard of the resistance against capitalist exploitation and its quest to capture our governance institutions and pauperise the masses further. We will not surrender the rights of Nigerian workers on the altar of profit. We will mobilize, we will organize, and we will fight back. We insist that there are No Sacred Cows!”
The group said it stands solidly behind the Nigerian workers, warning the “ruling elites” to stop the assault on the poor masses. “On this World Day for Decent Work, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) stands in solidarity with the millions of Nigerian workers who toil daily under the yoke of exploitation and impunity. We use this occasion to sound a clarion call to the Nigerian state and the ruling elites, that the relentless assault on the pillars of Decent Work must end. It is in our collective interests to protect the tenets of Decent work.
“The Decent Work Agenda, as championed by the International Labour Organisation (ILO), other UN agencies and global organisations, is not a mere proposition but a fundamental framework for a just and egalitarian society. It rests on four pillars: job creation, social protection, rights at work, and social dialogue. Today, in Nigeria, each of these pillars is being systematically undermined by the very tripartite partners, especially government and greedy Private Employers who have sworn to uphold them. “Decent work is a critical foundation for sustainable national development. The pursuit of Decent Work is not a peripheral concern but the very bedrock of sustainable national development. A nation that fails to guarantee fair incomes, safe workplaces, and the right to organize is a nation that actively sabotages its own productive capacity.
“Compliance with the Decent Work Agenda fuels economic growth by building a healthy, skilled, and motivated workforce, which in turn boosts productivity, stimulates consumer demand, and fosters social cohesion. Conversely, the suppression of workers’ rights and the proliferation of indecent work create a low-productivity, high-exploitation economy, perpetuating poverty and social unrest, which are antithetical to any meaningful development. “It is also true that systemic denial of Decent Work principles directly undermines our national quest for industrialization and economic diversification. No nation can achieve true economic sovereignty or technological advancement by repressing the very class that produces its wealth.
“Sustainable development is built on a foundation of social justice, where the fruits of labour are equitably shared, and workers have a genuine stake in the prosperity they create. To ignore this is to consign our nation to a perpetual state of underdevelopment, dependency, and internal strife, where the immense wealth generated by the many is siphoned off for the luxurious comfort of a privileged few. “On this day that marks decent work day, we therefore consider the statement attributed to the Vice President of the federation as a national tragedy, as he presupposes that the Nigerian State promotes lawlessness. However, we doubt that the President of the federation will agree with him.
