The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) has threatened to mobilise students to occupy federal highways across the 36 states and the FCT should federal government agencies, trade unions, or foreign collaborators continue on the path of sabotage, as it vows to defend the survival of the Nigerian economy and the dignity of the nation.
The association made its position known when its members demonstrated in Asaba on Wednesday against what it called petroleum industry revitalisation sabotage as a result of the face-off between the Dangote Group and PENGASSAN.
The students carried different inscriptions such as ‘We need progress, we can’t be great by destroying greatness’; ‘Youths stand with Dangote – Future at stake’; and ‘Economic freedom starts with local refineries, support indigenous industries, not imported monopoly.’
According to Comrade Olushola Oladoja, President, National Association of Nigerian Students, the Nigerian students’ movement stands firmly on the side of industrial growth, job creation, and more independence, adding that ‘we will not fold our arms while internal saboteurs destroy the hope of a new Nigeria.’
The president, who was represented by the National Financial Secretary of the association, Comrade Jeremiah Friday Ohomah, said the destruction of the textile industry must never be repeated in the petroleum sector.
He said the Dangote Refinery and other private refineries represent a new dawn in Nigeria’s industrial revival, which he argued must be protected, supported, and sustained by all means.
‘The latest manifestation of this conspiracy is the unconstitutional attempt by PENGASSAN to impose union membership on workers of the Dangote Refinery.
‘This is an act of coercion and a direct violation of Section 40 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended), which guarantees freedom of association – including the freedom not to join any association.
‘Private refinery workers have every right to choose their form of representation or to remain un-unionised.
‘After all, academic staff in private universities are not compelled to join ASUU, lecturers in private polytechnics are not under ASUP, and teachers in private colleges of education are not members of COEASU.
‘This imposition is, therefore, a calculated attempt to frustrate Dangote Refinery and other emerging private investments in the sector, and NANS will resist it with every legitimate means.
‘It is on record that the collapse of Nigeria’s national refineries was not merely due to poor maintenance but deliberate acts of sabotage by entrenched interests.’
The association therefore demanded, amongst others, priority crude supply to Nigerian refineries, an end to crude undervaluation to foreign refineries, less priority on petroleum product importation at the expense of locally refined petroleum products by indigenous refineries, protection of private investment, freedom of association, and the cessation of union harassment and industrial blackmail.