A Niger Delta monarch, King Bubaraye Dakolo, the Ibenanaowei of Ekpetiama Kingdom in Bayelsa State, has called on Nigerians to unionise and come together against the cabals in the nation’s oil and gas sector that promote continued dependence on imports in order to meet our petrol needs.
According to the Chairman of the Bayelsa Traditional Rulers Council, this has become imperative rather than organise against the interests of local product manufacturing.
Speaking against the backdrop of the dispute between Dangote Refinery and PENGASSAN, the monarch, who stated that the Niger Delta stands with Dangote, urged PENGASSAN to understand the people’s pains and not erode their gains.
Therefore, he insisted that the federal, state and local government, as well as the organised private sector, and most especially the unions to cooperate with Dangote Refinery as Alhaji Dangote refines petrol locally.
The monarch, while addressing journalists on Friday on the sidelines of the tour of Dangote Refinery and Dangote Fertiliser Plant at Lekki, Lagos, said:
“We in the Niger Delta have a sense of fulfilment that after years of not making the best of our natural resources, God has raised a man like Alhaji Aliko Dangote and the Dangote Refinery to end the distortions in the value chain of Nigeria’s oil and gas downstream industry by making local refining of our resources a possibility.”
In a statement, tagged: “The Niger Delta stands with local manufacturing and distribution: The Niger Delta stands with Dangote,” made available to journalists, he said the Niger Delta and Nigeria, in general, benefit and profit more when Nigeria’s oil and gas are locally refined and globally marketed.
King Dakolo, however, canvassed support for the Dangote Refinery. He lamented that oil union cabals in the oil and gas sector, PENGASSAN, are ensuring that Nigerians keep paying unnecessarily high prices for oil and gas products.
He noted that the subsidy racketeers and oil thieves do not live or stay in the Niger Delta but elsewhere to carry out their nefarious activities that put Nigeria in this mess.
However, the monarch, who also called for dispute resolution between PENGASSAN and Dangote Refinery, said all disputes are being resolved through discussions, negotiation and dialogue, urged the government, Dangote and the unions to engage in effective and fruitful dialogue and negotiation to resolve the dispute, and it must be an honest discussion.
The King said: “Some groups or individuals want to continue to live in the past, and remain analogue, but these cannot move the country forward. They should upgrade, and it is high time they upgraded.
“We should all think of the collective benefits of the country and not in the interest of a group, or anyone or individual.
“Unionism should be voluntary and not compulsory. As such, the Niger Delta gives Dangote the right hand of fellowship, even as we appeal to groups and individuals not to sabotage this lofty idea.
“Our refineries would have been working since 2007, when the Olusegun Obasanjo administration sold a 51 per cent stake in the Port Harcourt and Kaduna refineries to a consortium, called Bluestar Oil, of which Aliko Dangote was the principal promoter.
“What happened? PENGASSAN went on a strike over the sale, and as a direct consequence of that strike, the late President Musa Yar’adua cancelled the sale. Now, for 18 years, those refineries remain comatose after spending $18 billion.”
“It is preposterous for any organisation or individuals to accuse Alhaji Dangote or the Dangote Refinery of being a monopoly. The oil and gas industry is open, and anybody or a group can enter it.”
On retaining workers at the comatose government refineries and spending such humongous resources to pay for work not done, the monarch said the government should do the needful.
“The refineries are just there in name. The government should do the best thing for the country. It is unfortunate that the workers are not doing anything, and $18 billion has been spent on the workers for doing nothing,” the monarch stated.
