The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) has called on the Federal Government to protect the Dangote Refinery from what it described as the overbearing influence of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN).
This was coming after PENGASSAN on Monday, September 29, 2025, embarked on a nationwide strike over alleged mass dismissal of about 800 Nigerian workers by the Dangote Refinery.
In a statement signed by its Founder and Executive Director, Professor Ishaq Akintola, MURIC condemned the strike, described it as “narrow-minded, parochial and unpatriotic.” The group argued that the decision placed the welfare of more than 250 million Nigerians at risk for the sake of a small minority.
Akintola stressed that allowing such industrial action against a private enterprise of national importance could discourage investors and destabilize the economy.
“Both foreign and local investors need the guarantee of safety from union hawks. The recklessness of union leaders is capable of totally neutralizing the laudable efforts being made by the Federal Government to attract foreign investment,” the statement read.
MURIC compared PENGASSAN’s action with the practices of other trade unions such as the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), and the National Union of Teachers (NUT), which do not interfere with private institutions under their sectors.
The group further noted that the Dangote Refinery has already contributed to stabilizing the naira, reducing petrol prices, creating jobs, and enhancing Nigeria’s international reputation.
“It is unthinkable that a fellow Nigerian will invest $23 billion in a 650,000 barrels per day refinery aimed at ameliorating the sufferings of the Nigerian masses only for a workers’ union from outside to dictate outrageous terms to him. Such a union should be treated as an economic saboteur,” Akintola said.
MURIC therefore urged the Federal Government to treat the Dangote Refinery as a priority project and to act decisively in curbing what it described as extremist tendencies of union leaders.
