The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has commended the Dangote Petroleum Refinery for creating job opportunities for Nigerians.

This is just as the refining company said it has become a nurturing ground for Nigerian engineers, scientists and technicians, many of whom have gone on to work as expatriates in different countries.

Chairperson, NLC, Lagos State Council, Funmi Sessi, said this when the council’s executive and members of the Labour Writers’ Association of Nigeria (LAWAN), toured the refinery and Dangote Fertiliser Limited. She said the centre’s major concern was about the welfare of workers, considering the conglomerate employs thousands of Nigerians and other nationals.

Sessi said part of the visit was to dialogue with the company and gain its approval for the workers to belong to unions.

“Our major concern is about the welfare of workers, considering employing thousands of Nigerians and other nationals. This is an opening door to dialogue with the company and gain its loyalty to allow the NLC to unionise the workers,” she said.
Impressed with the massive investment in the axis, she urged the Federal Government to prioritise the sale of crude oil to the Dangote Refinery in naira.

The union argued that forcing the company to import crude or purchase locally in dollars undermines the promise of lower fuel prices for ordinary Nigerians.

Stating that the projects are delivering tangible benefits to the Nigerian people, Sessi said: “I believe what we have seen is a clear effort to bridge the gap in the availability of essential products in the country and to create job opportunities for Nigerians and others as well as industrialise the country. ”

Vice President, Oil and Gas, Dangote Industries Limited, Devakumar Edwin, who noted that the company is the second largest employer of labour, after the government, said about 22 per cent of its employees are drawn from host communities, 50 per cent from the state, and the remaining percentage from other Nigerians.

Edwin said the company invests heavily in training, with well-established training centres and developing Nigerian workers across all its plants to take over from their foreign counterparts.

According to him, it is an endless search as the company keeps improving, producing and expanding.