The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) in Lagos has threatened to take action against the Dangote Refinery and the Lagos State Government for allegedly hiring 89 unskilled workers from Katsina State instead of giving jobs to local youths in Ibeju-Lekki.
The NLC says this act violates labour laws and puts the host community at risk.
A viral video had shown the young men arriving in a truck and gathering near the refinery. Concerned residents alerted the police, but the Lagos State Police Command later confirmed that the men were legitimate workers.
“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,” said police spokesperson Benjamin Hundeyin on Friday via X (formerly Twitter).
However, the NLC chairperson in Lagos, Comrade Funmi Sessi, strongly disagreed with the explanation. She told Weekend Trust that the company’s action was unfair and against employment rules.
Sessi said, “My position is that what the Dangote Refinery did is very wrong. The labour law states clearly that 70 per cent of workers should come from the host community, and only 30 per cent from outside, especially if they have special skills.”
She questioned why Dangote would bring unskilled labourers from the North when many youths in Lagos remain unemployed.
“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?” she asked.
Sessi urged Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu and the Federal Ministry of Labour to act quickly and demand that Dangote return the workers to the North.
She warned that the NLC would escalate the matter. “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,” she said.
Sessi also accused the refinery of favouring foreign workers over locals.
“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,” she said.
Meanwhile, Dangote Refinery said it had no prior knowledge of the workers and blamed one of its contractors.
“We did not know anything about them. They were brought in by one of our vendors working in the refinery. We are already investigating the matter,” a company spokesperson said in a text message to Weekend Trust.
The NLC says it will continue to monitor the situation and may call for nationwide action if nothing is done.