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The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has condemned the alleged recruitment of 89 unskilled labourers from Katsina State to work at the Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals facility in Ibeju-Lekki, Lagos.
Through its Lagos State chapter, the NLC said the action is a violation of labour laws and a potential security threat to the host community.
A viral video over the weekend showed the arrival of the young men, who were seen disembarking from a truck and assembling near the refinery. Concerned residents reportedly alerted the police.
In response, the Lagos State Police Command issued a statement via X (formerly Twitter), seeking to calm public fears. The command’s spokesperson, Benjamin Hundeyin, stated:
“Upon receipt of the information on May 14, 2025, officers from the command immediately deployed to the location to ascertain the facts. Preliminary investigations revealed that the young men in question, 89 in number, had arrived from Katsina State and were recruited to work as labourers at the Dangote Refinery in Lekki.”
However, in an exclusive interview with Weekend Trust, Comrade Funmi Sessi, Chairperson of the Lagos State chapter of the NLC, insisted the recruitment was unacceptable.
Speaking in Abuja after the National Executive Council meeting of the National Union of Food, Beverages and Tobacco Employees (NUFBTE), she said: “My position is that what the Dangote Refinery did is very wrong. These people are low-income earners. The rule of engagement and labour rules have stated clearly that 70 per cent of those in the locality should be given the opportunity while 30 per cent can be given to those who have skills.”
She further questioned the rationale behind the recruitment: “Which kind of skills will they tell us that these people have that the young people who are unemployed in the locality don’t have? Which competence don’t those people in the community have? This is an aberration.”
Sessi also challenged the company’s decision not to recruit locally: “I believe Dangote can’t do this. He has companies in all parts of this country; why couldn’t he recruit these guys for his company in the northern part and reserve these ones for those in the South, where the refinery is situated?”
She called on Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu and the Federal Ministry of Labour to intervene and compel the refinery management to send the 89 workers back.
“Anyway, this is not the first time he is doing this. Dangote is fond of bringing in Indians and other expatriates as technicians. He prefers to bring foreigners who don’t even have the knowledge of our own local people. This is unacceptable to us.”
“We are already calling him out. This is the first series of it. We are also using this opportunity to tell the government of Lagos State and the Federal Ministry of Labour that Dangote has committed an aberration of the highest order. Those guys should be taken back to Dangote’s companies in the northern part, not in Lagos State. If Dangote refuses to do this, we will involve the NLC at the national level to fight this act of bringing 89 unskilled workers to Lagos State.”
In response, the Dangote Refinery stated that it is investigating how the 89 men were brought to the facility.
“We did not know anything about them. They were brought in by one of our vendors, working in the refinery,” a company spokesperson said in a text message to Weekend Trust.
“And as you know, for a project of that magnitude, we have so many vendors working for us. We are already investigating the matter too.”
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