Oshiomhole Now a Vocal Advocate for Corporate Oppression – NUPENG

By Chinedu Echianu

The Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) has strongly condemned recent remarks by Senator Adams Aliyu Oshiomhole on national television, describing them as a “reprehensible assault” on workers’ rights and a distortion of Nigeria’s labour laws.

In a statement jointly signed by its President, Comrade Williams Akporeha, and General Secretary, Comrade Afolabi Olawale, NUPENG expressed dismay that a former labour leader had, in its words, “transformed into a vocal advocate for corporate oppression, actively campaigning against the very rights he once championed.”

The union particularly faulted Oshiomhole’s criticism of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) strike at the Dangote Refinery, where over 800 engineers were reportedly dismissed for unionizing.

“Senator Oshiomhole’s suggestion of a moratorium on unionisation is absurd and archaic. There is no provision for such in any Nigerian labour law or international convention ratified by Nigeria,” the statement read.

NUPENG restated that the right to freedom of association is guaranteed under Section 40 of the Nigerian Constitution, Section 9(6) of the Labour Act, and international standards such as ILO Conventions 87 and 98. It further stressed that solidarity strikes, such as the one embarked upon by PENGASSAN, are recognized under Section 31 of the Trade Unions Act.

The oil workers’ union accused Oshiomhole, a former President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), of “political amnesia” and “historical revisionism,” alleging that his current stance betrays the principles of trade unionism he once upheld.

“For a man who led nationwide strikes as NLC President to now denounce workers’ action as harmful to the economy is a monumental betrayal of the working class,” NUPENG stated.

The union went further to declare Oshiomhole persona non grata within the Nigerian oil and gas sector, vowing not to participate in or endorse any event that features him.

“By his undistinguished denunciation of the PENGASSAN strike, Senator Oshiomhole has qualified as the Judas Iscariot of Nigerian trade unionism. He has irretrievably lost the moral right and legitimacy before Nigerian workers,” the statement concluded.

NUPENG reaffirmed its solidarity with PENGASSAN and the dismissed engineers, pledging to pursue all legal and industrial measures to secure justice.