Category Nigeria News

On security and economic issues, Zamfara State Governor Dauda Lawal on Monday asked governors of the 11 northern states to speak with one voice.

The governor made the request at the Abuja Continental Hotel during the Northern Nigeria Investment and Industrialization Summit.

Sulaiman Bala Idris, the governor’s representative, stated in a statement that Lawal presided over the summit’s opening day.

He disclosed that Professor Ango Abdullahi, the head of Professor Ango Abdullahi’s Northern Elders Forum, organized the investment summit, citing the fact that it attracted all relevant parties from the northern region of Nigeria.

Governor Lawal praised the Northern Elders Forum for its ongoing commitment to the development of the Northern region in his remarks.

Also, READ: False, Divisive, and Attempts Of Religious Genocide in Nigeria.

You have once more demonstrated a clear-eyed focus on our collective future by convening this gathering under the theme of “Unlocking Strategic Opportunities,” he said.

The combination of sectors—mining, agriculture, and power—is not accidental. It is an objective assessment of the foundational pillars of Northern Nigeria’s prosperity. We are aware of the paradox that surrounds Zamfara: despite having vast arable land and immense mineral wealth, our people still haven’t fully benefited from these endowments.

The key question for leaders is not what needs to be done, but how can we can turn potential into prosperity. We must adopt a new form of collaboration and move beyond rhetoric in order to attract the investment needed to industrialize our region for the benefit of the nation. ”

A safe North is a bankable North, according to Governor Lawal, and leaders from the 19 Northern States must work together beyond politics.

We must secure investments and people as a whole. Any meaningful development must first be secured in order to be meaningful. Investors are not philanthropists, both domestically and internationally; They believe in reality. They won’t invest in areas that are unsafe. To create a secure and predictable environment, we must integrate our security architectures, share intelligence in real-time, and encourage more community policing.

Our commitment to Zamfara is unwavering. In the mining industry, formalization, regulation, and value addition are the key components of our transition from the past, which was of informality and illegality. By promoting agro-processing, mechanization, and credit access, we are revitalizing our agricultural sector. And we’re creating the foundation of everything: a secure, stable environment.

Brown Ogbeifun, former president of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), has accused Dangote Refinery of disrespecting employees after allegedly firing hundreds of employees.

READ MORE: NNPCL Towers, NMDPRA, NUPRC, PENGASSAN Barricades,  As Nationwide Strike Begs, Starts, and More.

He stated on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief, “What we are seeing today is an organization that disregards the dignity of its employees.”

He questioned the reported layoff’s timing, claiming it was a result of PENGASSAN’s ongoing unionization problems.

“I was informed that a restructuring at Dangote Refinery resulted in the dismissal of 800 workers,” I later learned. Why now, you ask? After unionization, why?

That is the main inquiry, they say. He claimed that the Dangote organization is known for being hostile toward unionization.

Ogbeifun arguaged that while employers have the right to hire and fire, they also have the right to exercise their legal rights.

You can’t wish away the dignity of workers because this generation is today. They must preserve their human dignity, he added.

Additionally, the former PENGASSAN president added that the issue involved human rights in business practices as well as unions.

Ogbeifun also raised questions about the Dangote Group’s alleged dominance in a number of industries.

Why should the Dangote organization bully everyone into going out of business? They both did it with cement and sugar. Should Dangote organizations serve as the foundation for a monopoly? He inquired.

His remarks come amid PENGASSAN’s and the Dangote Refinery’s ongoing labor dispute over the company’s disengagement and unionization of Nigerian workers.

The private refinery’s practices, which the union described as anti-labour practices, led to a nationwide strike.

Lucky Irabor, the former chief of the defense staff and retired army general, will release the book “Scars: Nigeria’s Journey and the Boko Haram Conundrum” on October 3, 2025.

Read more about Troops Kill Three Boko Haram Commandants and Eight Others in Borno.

The book, which presents an account of the complex dynamics of Boko Haram, will be presented at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel in Abuja’s Congress Hall. &nbsp,

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo serves as the chairman of the occasion while President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is expected to be the Special Guest of Honour.

The book reviewer will be Most Rev. (Dr.) Matthew Hassan Kukah, the Catholic Bishop of the Sokoto Diocese. &nbsp,

With far-reaching regional, continental, and global repercussions, Boko Haram’s emergence in 2002 marked an unprecedented era of bloodbath, destruction of property, and destruction of economies, not just in Nigeria but also across the West African belt. &nbsp,

Gen Irabor’s statement, “In Scars: Nigeria’s Journey and the Boko Haram Conundrum,” partially read, dissects the Boko Haram conundrum while offering solutions to a problem that threatens the future of Nigeria and other West African states.

A deeper understanding of Boko Haram and the insurgency problem can be gained from Gen Irabor’s bird’s-eye view, which helped Nigerian forces fight one of the biggest threats to his country, according to the statement. &nbsp,

The 330-page book, which reviewers claim is “destined to change the Boko Haram narrative,” contains 14 chapters broken up into three parts. &nbsp,

The Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), a group led by an economist, has been warned against engaging in an industrial war that it cannot with the Dangote Group.

He made this comment on Monday’s The Morning Brief on Channel 9 and The Daily Mail about the company’s handling of some of the Nigerian workers’ union disputes.

Read more about PENGASSAN declaring a national strike at Dangote Refinery.

Don’t join a fight you can’t win, is my counsel to labor. Don’t try to destroy a systemic, strategic, and national interest-protecting refinery. You can’t, he said, “do that.”

Right to hire, and fired

The professor lamented that despite the enormous investment being made to revive them, Nigeria’s refineries were still in operation despite the country’s declining foreign direct investment.

“Our foreign direct investment has melted away, and we won’t even receive $ 2 billion this year, compared to $ 20 billion,” he said.

Even the $10 billion that the NNPC spent to build the refineries for ten years was futile. The refineries are shut down because they securitize our five-year revenues, which they receive in return, Ife said.

The economist also argued that hiring and firing shouldn’t be denied to employers.

READ MORE:   Strike: FG Appeals to PENGASSAN Over Dangote Dispute, Monday Truce Meeting Holds.

“The allegations are that Dangote opposed unionization and workers’ rights. Because Dangote has stated that it supports workers’ union rights, but those rights are voluntary, that is not true.

“Dangote (Dangote) has already started anti-labour practices, and we don’t have any proof that they were selectively targeting those or preventing them from enlisting in a union,” according to the second one.

In a country with democracy and free markets and where employers are denied the right to hire and fire, I don’t know about any labor laws. And I don’t know any where unions pick the employee and hire, he said.

“Take the Court”

According to him, the union’s failure to end the lives of the 800 allegedly sacked by grounding the economy is inadmissible.

He added that the refinery’s timing of the sacking of the Nigerian workers was not problematic.

You can’t live above the law, these unions say. You fight for and defend the rights of your members.

“Contact the industrial court if you have any problems.” You don’t violate the laws in your own hands, Ife said, so that’s your first port of call.

Nationalwide Strike and Labor Dispute

Last week, PENGASSAN issued a directive to its members to immediately halt gas supplies to Dangote Petroleum Refinery, accusing the company’s management of disengaging unionized workers and launching a “mission of misinformation and propaganda” rather than meaningful union engagement.

The refinery’s plan to stop crude supply to the refinery was criticized by PENGASSAN as a “brazen, albeit shocking, display of lawlessness and criminality.”

Additionally, it claimed that the union was unable to direct its branches to “cut off” crude oil and gas deliveries to the refinery.

However, the union later directed its members to revoke their services in a circular issued after a momentary National Executive Council meeting on Saturday, September 27, 2025, which was signed by General Secretary Lumumba Okugbawa.

The refinery was fired because it had joined the association, infringing on Nigeria’s labor laws, the constitution, and international labor organization conventions.

The Federal Government urged PENSASSAN to reconsider its proposed strike over its dispute with Dangote Refinery on Sunday because of the effects the industrial action had on the economy.

Senator Shehu Sani, a former federal lawmaker, has urged Dangote Refinery and the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) to engage in constructive dialogue to stop a strike.

He warned that every Nigerian would suffer if there was a nationwide shutdown during his speech on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics.

According to Sani, “I think Dangote and the union can come to terms and resolve this problem.”

Sani praised Dangote for building Africa’s largest refinery, calling him “one son Nigeria is proud of.”

He did, however, insist that the Constitution requires that workers have the right to join unions.

He said that “only when employees disrupt operations should measures be taken,” but that firing them for joining unions is improper.

He warned against labor union disputes, which could harm the refinery’s reputation abroad.

Sani argued that the conflict was between Dangote’s desire for uninterrupted production and the unions’ duty to protect workers as the source of the crisis.

Sani remarked that “the world views Nigeria as a petroleum power thanks to Dangote refinery.”

He warned that “without unions, workers will be abused, exploited, and their rights unprotected.”

He acknowledged Dangote’s apprehension about strikes but argued that dialogue was the only way to get rid of it.

Sani praised the government’s media efforts, noting that “the government’s interest in solving this is demonstrated by the Ministry of Labour’s invitation to both sides.”

PENGASSAN Sets Orders for the shutdown

PENGASSAN claimed Dangote Refinery ersted 800 Nigerians and installed “more than 2, 000 Indians” in their place.

The strike directive forbade the reinstatement of workers until the job was done.

Members were told to stop receiving crude oil and gas from the refinery.
Its circular read, “Every control room and field operation must end without delay.

“An injury to one is an injury to everyone,” the saying goes. No other person is greater than our nation, the union continued.

TUC Threatens to strike

Dangote Refinery’s allegedly sacking employees who joined PENGASSAN was condemned by the Trade Union Congress (TUC).

Nuhu Toro, the TUC’s secretary general, claimed in a statement that the dismissal violated the ILO and the constitution of Nigeria.

Toro declared, “We stand in full solidarity with the affected workers.”

He demanded that the refinery issue a public apology and the reinstatement of the sacked staff. Toro alerted affiliates to a potential nationwide strike.

He declared that “no company will be permitted to violate workers’ rights.”

Dangote’s response

Dangote Refinery refuted accusations of wrongdoing, arguing that the restructuring was necessary “to prevent sabotage and ensure safety.”

More than 3, 000 Nigerians remained employed, compared to just a few workers, according to the report.

PENGASSAN was charged with “criminal conduct” and economic sabotage by the refinery.
No law gives PENGASSAN the authority to halt supplies, it said.

The company warned that the government’s revenues and fuel supplies might be impacted by the shutdown. It demanded that the Federal Government step in and put an end to what it termed “reckless conduct.”

FG Injures

The Federal Government urged PENGASSAN to postpone its planned strike against Dangote Refinery in the midst of the dispute.

Muhammad Dingyadi, the minister of labor, claimed that his government had started conciliation efforts to stop escalation on Sunday.

The Ministry confirmed invitations to Dangote Refinery management and PENGASSAN in an official statement signed by Patience Onuobia, the head of information and public relations, on Monday.