By Sanya Oni,The Nation

Copyright thenationonlineng

Last weekend, the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) resumed their hostilities with the Dangote Refinery over what it alleged to be ‘violations of the resolutions reached during a truce brokered by the federal government’. In its notice posted on Thursday, September 11 in Abuja, NUPENG President, Comrade Williams Akporeha, and General Secretary, Comrade Afolabi Olawale, alleged that commitments made at a meeting facilitated by the State Security Service (SSS) which had in attendance Finance Minister Wale Edun, Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) officials, and management of Dangote Refinery, were already being flouted.

Interestingly, while it seems unlikely that most Nigerians barely understood the issues beyond those nebulous claims about monopoly on the one hand and the disruptive union power on the other, the fog, nonetheless, would appear to be clearing by the simple fact of NUPENG’s insistence of making it a holy grail.

We are referring to a so-called agreement that not only let out few details on the basis of which the ordinary citizen could make an informed judgment, but was so carefully couched in ambiguity thus raising more questions than answers.

Talking of the agreement, let’s consider the origin of the latest round of tiff to see whether sense could be made of it. According to NUPENG, based on the agreement reached by the parties Thursday last week, their members working with Dangote Refinery were free to have their stickers, their insignia on the trucks, to facilitate loading at the refinery complex. The problem, according to them was that Dangote Refinery’s Alh Sayyu Aliu Dantata saw things differently; he instructed all his truck drivers who are supposedly NUPENG-PTD members to remove them! Not only that, he, allegedly instructed them to forcefully drive into Dangote Refinery to load during which union officials stopped them from entering the refinery to load because their trucks violated union loading rules and regulations. (My emphasis).

To quote one of the union leaders who spoke to Daily Trust: “When we came here this morning (Thursday), we noticed that all the pasted stickers had been removed. This negates the agreement we had during the Tuesday’s meeting,”

Now, the billion naira question is – what exactly is contained in the agreement? Was it part of the agreement that every truck must carry the stickers? Note the union’s reference to an alleged violation of union loading rules and regulations; to what extent could those regulations by the unions be forced on a private entity based solely on the fact their members earn their living there? And what is the big deal about the stickers anyway?

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To understand the issues, let’s start with how the furore started.

Weeks back, NUPENG had served notice of impending strike to protest against what it described as anti-union labour practices, linked to the deployment of newly imported compressed natural gas trucks by the Dangote Refinery, for direct distribution of petroleum products.

In this, Nigeria Labour Congress and some of affiliate unions like NARTO openly decried Dangote’s plan for free distribution of petroleum products, citing its unsustainability and potential to eliminate independent transporters who operate over 30,000 trucks across the country. NLC president, Joe Ajaero, in particular would accuse the Dangote Group of “exploiting Nigerian workers while disregarding their constitutional rights.” Perhaps not unexpectedly, the depots owners, under their umbrella, the equally powerful Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association of Nigeria (DAPPMAN) would join the tango in what promises to be an interesting play of the giants.

In all of these, Dangote Refinery on its part continues to insist that the different actors and their backers are mere crying wolf where none exist, and that the issue is not so much about unionisation but a play by vested interests to maintain their iron grip on the industry for their narrow and ostensibly subversive ends. Its investment, whether in the refinery or in the fuel haulage business, it insists, is guided by national interest, a principle long subverted by the activities of a cartel that would rather feast on the misery of the people than deliver real solutions.

The truth is in between.

To start with, NUPENG is entitled to stake its claims as a leading player in the industry within the limits of the law. What it is not entitled to is operate as a law unto itself. Again, most interesting, NUPENG would allege that some truck drivers removed their stickers overnight as directed by the Dangote Group managing director. That might well be. What the union could not have told Nigerians is that these drivers were coerced at any point to do that.

To anyone with the barest knowledge of the industry, the whole idea of getting every truck to carry NUPENG stickers, is actually a ploy by NUPENG to enforce their rules on just about any driver – member or not! As a matter of fact, that truth, loudly spoken in whispers, is that the stickers attract an extortionate fee of N70,000 or thereabout, levied on every single truck passed by NUPENG for loading daily, ostensibly to keep the boys happy! Dangote Refinery would of course have none of that! Yes, the casus belli!

In other words, the referenced loading rules and regulations, said to have been violated by Dangote Refinery management and for which the entire country would have to pay a steep price!

Dangote Refinery’s unforgivable sin, in the circumstance therefore, is letting in those trucks without stickers into the gantry, minus the gravy. Does anyone still see why the love of money is the root of all evil? Or why their declared war is not about us let alone any budding monopoly as alleged, but one designed to retain that old gravy from which the greed of the shadowy players are serviced?

Granted, the fear of the coming of Dangote trucks is somewhat legitimate; but this is only to the extent that it might in the end put NUPENG members under severe strain of competition; thus exposing the inefficiency that the union in particular, has nurtured. The chicks are therefore merely home to roost. Even at that, this is neither unlawful nor unheard of; flowing from the wholesale inefficiency that have long characterised that segment of the supply/distribution chain, there is no doubt, some logic to it.

In any case, it is certainly not the fault of Dangote Refinery that the industry segment failed to retool in the last few years; it was somewhat assumed that the evisceration of the pipelines network, of which the unions are primarily complicit, the result of which the nation continues to burn its candle on both ends – through unbearably high logistical costs and the daily destruction of the roads infrastructure – would remain in perpetuity! Now that the wheels are beginning to turn, it seems the easy way out is to enlist Nigerians in praying out the individual who knew how to put his money where his mouth is!

NUPENG’s sunset as indeed those of its DAPPMAN allies may be slow and drawn out, however, throwing tantrums and hoping against hope that the ship that had long departed the shores could still be halted midstream would at best be an exercise in futility.