In The Aftermath Of PENGASSAN And Dangote Refinery Impasse

Opinion:

BY TUNDE AKINLADE

I have examined the approaches adopted by both PENGASSAN and NUPENG in their standoff with the Dangote Refinery and have reached the conclusion that, very soon, both unions risk becoming toothless bulldogs. Their members are likely to shift loyalty to their employer.

The national interest will ultimately overshadow any errors the Refinery may have committed against its employees. The internal structures of the two unions ought to have been put in order before engaging in such a confrontational game.

Trade unions generally collect check-off dues deducted from the salaries of their members, either on a monthly basis or at the point of salary payment. In addition, unions are permitted to charge levies payable only by their members, usually from salaries, arrears, or allowances. This arrangement is typical of unions in organized sectors, whether private or public.

Unorganized unions, such as the NURTW, the Nigerian Union of Tailors, and the RTEAN (the latter being an employers’ union), which do not have members on formal payrolls, have devised other means of raising funds. For instance, the NURTW relies on daily ticketing to generate income, though it often employs crude methods of collection. Similarly, RTEAN relies on touts and intermediaries to collect daily levies.

However, no union is permitted to charge third-party non-members any form of levies, except voluntary donations. Where, therefore, did PENGASSAN derive the authority to collect a fifty-thousand-naira levy on each fuel tanker loaded from the Refinery? Such a levy, if indeed it exists, is arbitrary, unconstitutional, and unacceptable.

Moreover, there is no known dispute between PENGASSAN and its employers that could justify shutting down the service lines of its members’ employers. Such action amounts to economic sabotage, which attracts severe penalties under the law. Beyond this, the union lacks the authority to interfere in the relationship between its members’ employers and their customers, particularly where it is not a party to the contractual agreement between them.

At the University of Ilorin some years ago, lecturers under ASUU drove students out of examination halls as a form of protest. The matter was taken to court, and many lecturers were dismissed, with only a few eventually reinstated. Similarly, during the prolonged ASUU strike of 2020, Nigerians witnessed how the Federal Government undermined the union through the Federal Minister of Labour and Productivity. ASUU is yet to fully recover from the impact of that experience.

Building on that precedent, the Tinubu administration has introduced policies in Nigerian universities that have made strike actions increasingly unpopular. PENGASSAN and NUPENG now risk forcing the government to adopt similar measures that may bring them to their knees if they refuse to pursue their grievances against the Dangote Refinery through lawful and constructive means.

The Federal Government remains determined to remove any obstacle that hinders the free flow of petroleum products.

*Tunde Akinlade writes from Ogbomoso, Oyo State.