Professor Ken Ife, an economist and spokesperson for Dangote Group, has accused the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) of fabricating stories to damage the reputation of billionaire businessman Aliko Dangote.
The Dangote Group has denied claims that it dismissed 800 PENGASSAN members, which the union cited as justification for its strike action.
Speaking during an interview with Daily Trust from 6:52, Professor Ife described the union’s allegations as a deliberate smear campaign. “They’re blackmailing Dangote group that 2000 Indians have been imported with no immigration clearance. How is that possible? They said 2000 were imported to take over the jobs of 800 people. These are malicious lies,” he stated.
The spokesman argued that even if the allegations were true, they wouldn’t justify the union’s response. “And even if it were true, it does not provide an excuse for you to shut down the entire economy. You are shutting down 230 million Nigerian people from accessing energy. You’re creating energy insecurity, You’re creating another form of physical insecurity because there’s going to be clashes everywhere,” the spokesperson cautioned.
Professor Ife then made a controversial proposal to restructure Nigeria’s labor unions. “Government should ban these national unions and then let the state versions of these unions persist. After all, oil is only in about 10 states. Why should a conflict between a refinery in Lagos and the union black out the entire country?” he asked.
The Dangote spokesman advocated for decentralizing union operations. “Let them go to states. Let them have their own versions in the states. It’s not necessary to have them because all of these things, all these conspiracies, they were all built up when NNPC was the sole monopoly in the country,” Professor Ife argued. See, More, Here>>>
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