The House of Representatives has resolved to set up an ad hoc committee with the council of leadership of the House as members and the Speaker as head of the committee to seek an amicable resolution to the crisis between Dangote Refinery and the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria.
The resolution followed the adoption of a motion of urgent public importance on “The need to Protect Strategic Private Investments from Adversarial Unionism”, moved by Mr Alhassan Doguwa and Mr Abdussamad Dasuki.
Leading the debate on the motion, Mr Doguwa said that the House notes the recent face-off between the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) and the Dangote Refinery, located within the Lekki Free Trade Zone, which culminated in a strike action that disrupted operations at the $20 billion refinery, the largest single-train refinery in the world.
“Also notes that the industrial action led to a disruption in Nigeria’s crude oil production, with a reported daily loss of approximately 200,000 barrels over a period of three days.
Further notes that the disruption worsened the fuel supply situation across the country, resulting in scarcity and long queues at filling stations in several states, thereby causing severe hardship for ordinary Nigerians;
“Aware that the Dangote Refinery is a strategic private investment of immense national importance, with the potential to guarantee energy security, reduce import dependency, generate employment, and conserve foreign exchange.
“Further aware that the Dangote Refinery operates within a Free Trade Zone, and therefore falls under the regulatory framework of the Nigeria Export Processing Zones Authority (NEPZA), particularly Section 18(5) of the Nigeria Export Processing Zones Act, which clearly states:
“Employment in the Free Zone shall be governed by rules and regulations made by the Authority and not subject to the provisions of any enactments relating to employment matters.”
“Concerned that actions by labour unions that disregard the legal protections conferred on Free Zones under the NEPZA Act not only constitute a breach of law but also create a hostile investment environment that may deter future local and foreign investors.” The motion said.
He noted that the House is worried that if private investments of strategic national importance are continually subjected to unlawful disruptions by adversarial unionism, Nigeria risks not only the failure of key economic assets but also the erosion of investor confidence necessary for national growth and development.
The bill was deliberated on by members before being passed by the Deputy Speaker, Mr Benjamin Kalu, who presided over plenary.