The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) has warned that it will mobilize students across the country to occupy federal highways if efforts to sabotage private refineries, particularly the Dangote Refinery, continue.
NANS condemned what it described as a coordinated attempt by vested interests to frustrate Nigeria’s refining independence.
The association accused international oil companies, product importers, and local unions of conspiring to maintain Nigeria’s dependency on imported fuel by frustrating local refining efforts.
In a statement delivered during a national warning protest held simultaneously in Abuja, Asaba, and Lagos, NANS President, Comrade Olushola Oladoja, riticised the ongoing pressure by trade unions, especially PENGASSAN, to impose union membership on private refinery workers, calling it unconstitutional and a threat to investment.
“This is coercion and a direct violation of Section 40 of the 1999 Constitution, which guarantees freedom of association,” he said.
NANS accused international oil companies, product importers, and local unions of conspiring to maintain Nigeria’s dependency on imported fuel by frustrating local refining efforts.
The association likened the situation to the collapse of the country’s textile industry, which it blamed on similar sabotage and lack of government protection.
The students’ body presented five demands, including:
Priority crude oil supply to Nigerian refineries;
An end to the undervaluation of crude sold to foreign refineries;
De-emphasis on fuel importation in favour of locally refined products;
Protection of private investments and workers’ rights;
An end to union harassment and industrial blackmail.
Oladoja, warned that if the government failed to act, NANS would escalate its actions with nationwide student protests.
“We shall defend the survival of the Nigerian economy and the dignity of our nation,” he said.
The development comes amid tensions between the government and labor unions, with PENGASSAN’s attempt to impose union membership on private refinery workers being criticized by NANS as unconstitutional and a threat to investment.
