… nominate Aliko Dangote for UN Industrial Ambassador Award
BY BANYO TEMITAYO
CITING economic benefits of the multi-billion dollar 650,000 bpd capacity Dangote Refinery currently under construction, the Organised Labour, at the weekend, threw its weight behind the project, describing it as a singular investment that will define the future of Nigeria and the African continent.
Leaders of trade unions of the Nigeria Labour Congress such as Textile, Chemical, Electricity, Automobile, Engineering as well as Petroleum and Gas, who are affiliates of the international labour platform called Industrial Global Union, said the size of the refinery project spoke volume of the entrepreneurial spirit of the President of the Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote.
Calling on the Federal Government to give all the support needed to aid timely completion of the project, the labour leaders recalled that more than 40 “handbag businessmen” were initially issued licences to operate refineries during the former President Olusegun Obasanjo regime but claimed that none of them did anything.
President of the National Union of Chemical Rubber Leather and Non-Metalic Products Employees (NUCFRILAMPE), who is the Auditor of the NLC and Chairman of the Nigerian Council of IndusriALL Global Union, Babatunde Goke Olatunji, said the investment patriotism of Aliko Dangote was unparalleled.
He disclosed that Labour had recommended Dangote to the United Nations for an Africa Industrial Development Ambassador Award.
He explained that the labour leaders were motivated to give their views to newsmen on their findings on the Dangote Refinery after a working tour of the project in Lagos because of the massive potential job opportunities and the economic benefits upon completion, which he said the labour leaders were after.
Their visit to the refinery, according to him, was in tandem with the industrial development sustainability goal of the global union.
The union also has as part of its goals, the defence of workers’ rights, building union power, fighting precarious work and engaging capital.
The labour leader said, “To our amazement, we couldn’t move round the whole of the refinery and the fertilizer sites because of the huge size which is 8 times bigger than the present Victoria Island.
“Upon completion, the refinery alone is capable of employing directly 300,000 workers while the fertilizer will attract about 5000 direct jobs. This is highly welcome in view of the present jobs depleting economy of Nigeria.
“With the present policies and efforts towards the diversification of Nigeria’s economy, the fertilizer plant shall encourage and enhance agricultural sector in no small measure as there shall be massive food production while cash crops shall equally constitute raw materials for our manufacturing sector and for exportation.”
In his own remark, the immediate past Secretary of the Textile workers union who is the Vice President, IndustriALL Global Union (IGU), Africa, Issa Aremu, maintained that for Africa to move forward, Africa must trade on goods produced locally to stimulate competitiveness within the region, “which exactly is the approach of the Dangote Group.”
Recalling how past leaders developed each of the North, East and West through resources from agricultural produce and how Nigeria was once self-sufficient in petroleum production before it became a net exporter now, Aremu said the Dangote refinery was on the verge of correcting the anomaly.
He described as a shame of a nation the fact that it would take an ingenuity of someone like Dangote to bring Nigeria back on the map of countries whose people were striving to make the country an industrial nation.
