NLC Slams VP Shettima Over Stance on Dangote-PENGASSAN Tussle, Citing ‘Assault on Decent Work’
The Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) has vehemently criticized Vice President Kashim Shettima’s recent comments concerning the ongoing dispute between the Dangote Refinery and the Petroleum and Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), accusing the nation’s second-in-command of prioritizing corporate interests over the welfare of Nigerian workers.
In a fiery statement released on Tuesday to mark “World Day for Decent Work,” NLC President Joe Ajaero asserted that the Vice President’s position amounts to protecting the colossal private entity at the expense of established labour rights.
Ajaero warned that the widespread and constant disregard for the principles of decent work is creating a “ticking time bomb” of social unrest. He affirmed the NLC’s uncompromising position against what he termed “capitalist exploitation,” which he claims is seeking to seize control of governance and further impoverish the populace. “The NLC… remains the vanguard of the resistance against capitalist exploitation… 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!” Ajaero declared. The labour coalition threw its full support behind the embattled Nigerian workers and issued a stern warning to the “ruling elites” to cease their “relentless assault on the poor masses.”
Using the international observance as a platform, the NLC lamented that the four core pillars of the International Labour Organisation (ILO)’s Decent Work Agenda—job creation, social protection, rights at work, and social dialogue—are being systematically eroded by both the government and “greedy Private Employers.”
The NLC stressed that the pursuit of Decent Work is not a minor concern but the essential foundation for sustainable national development. The union argued that any nation that fails to guarantee fair pay, secure working environments, and the freedom to unionize is actively undermining its own productive potential.
“Compliance with the Decent Work Agenda fuels economic growth by building a healthy, skilled, and motivated workforce… Conversely, the suppression of workers’ rights… create[s] a low-productivity, high-exploitation economy, perpetuating poverty and social unrest,” the statement read.
The most stinging rebuke was reserved for VP Shettima’s controversial assertion, reportedly suggesting that the Dangote Group, being a “national asset,” should somehow be exempt from adhering to the country’s labour laws.
The NLC labeled this statement a “national tragedy” and an “affront to the rule of law.”
“We condemn in the strongest terms this deeply troubling statement by the Vice President… This statement is not only an affront to the rule of law but a national tragedy. It is a public declaration that capital, when sufficiently concentrated, is above the law, that money is sovereign and can undermine Decent work principles,” the statement concluded.
The union expressed doubt that the President would endorse such a position which, it claims, “presupposes that the Nigerian State promotes lawlessness.”
