The National Association of Polytechnic Students (NAPS) has described the Dangote Refinery as a “living campus of industrial learning” where Nigerian students are not merely observers of progress but active participants in the nation’s technological advancement.
At a solidarity rally held on Wednesday in Abuja, the students expressed their support for the refinery and called on the Federal Government to defend it against what they termed “the machinations of economic saboteurs.”
Led by its National President, Comrade Eshiofune Paul Oghayan, the students said thousands of Nigerian polytechnic, monotechnic, and college of technology students would continue to benefit from Students Industrial Work Experience Scheme (SIWES) placements at the Dangote Refinery and its allied industries.
According to Oghayan, the refinery serves as an industrial classroom where students “exchange chalkboards for control rooms, theories for turbines, and classrooms for creativity.”
The rally, themed “Protecting National Assets, Securing Youth Futures: NAPS Solidarity with Dangote Refinery for Economic Growth and Stability,” saw hundreds of students carrying placards and chanting solidarity songs in defence of the refinery.
Some of the banners read: “Attack on Dangote is an attack on Nigeria,” “Dangote Refinery: Restoring Hope, Restoring Nigeria,” and “From Classroom to Industry, Nigerian Students Stand.”
Oghayan described the multi-billion-dollar facility as “a national fortress built on private sacrifice,” stressing the need to shield it from vested interests allegedly bent on frustrating Nigeria’s industrial rebirth. He urged the Federal Government to allocate 100 per cent of the crude oil supply to the refinery to enable it to reach full production capacity.
“When we feed this refinery fully, it will flood the market with supply, crash fuel prices, and stabilise our economy,” he said.
He further urged ministries and agencies to prioritise locally refined products, noting that the move would stimulate industrial growth, create jobs, and reinforce Nigeria’s economic sovereignty.
“Buy Nigerian, use Nigerian, and defend Nigerian,” Oghayan charged. “The nations that dominate the world became great by protecting what they produce and producing what they protect. Nigeria must do the same.”
Describing the facility as “the refinery of tomorrow built today,” Oghayan said the plant currently refines 650,000 barrels per day of crude and produces Euro-6 standard fuels, with plans to expand capacity to 1.4 million barrels per day, making it the world’s largest single-train refinery.
However, he cautioned against what he described as attempts by vested interests within PENGASSAN, NUPENG, and DAPMAN to derail its operations, accusing them of advancing the interests of petroleum importers.
“The same forces that killed the Kaduna, Port Harcourt, and Warri refineries are rising again — not with guns, but with strikes, deceit, and blackmail,” he alleged.
Oghayan reaffirmed that Nigerian youths would resist any plot to undermine the refinery, declaring that “an attack on the Dangote Refinery is an attack on Nigeria’s industrial future.”
