Yoruba student groups took to the streets of Ibadan in solidarity with the Dangote Refinery, urging President Tinubu to stop alleged sabotage by oil unions and marketers
PENGASSAN: Students Protest in Ibadan, Demand End to Sabotage of Dangote Refinery
A coalition of Yoruba student groups, including the National Association of Oduduwa Students (NAOS), the Coalition of Yoruba Students, and the Yoruba Movement, on Tuesday, staged a peaceful protest in Ibadan in solidarity with the Dangote Refinery amid its ongoing dispute with major oil unions and marketers.
The students, who converged at Iwo Road Roundabout, near the end of the Ibadan-Lagos Expressway, chanted solidarity songs and carried placards with inscriptions such as:
“Don’t Kill Dangote Refinery,” “#StopSabotagingFuelInNigeria,” “#EndPENGASSAN,” “#EndDAPPMAN,” “#DangoteRefineryIsANationalAsset,” and “#StopSabotage.”
Wearing matching T-shirts emblazoned with “Don’t Kill Dangote Refinery,” the protesters said their demonstration was aimed at drawing government attention to an alleged coordinated attempt by vested interests to undermine the operations of Nigeria’s biggest industrial investment and Africa’s largest single-train refinery.
Addressing journalists, the President of NAOS, Olalere Adetunji, appealed to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to intervene immediately and prevent further crisis.
“We want to use this period to appeal to the Federal Government to protect the refinery and ensure that labour and marketers’ actions do not derail Nigeria’s move toward fuel self-sufficiency,” Adetunji said.
Security operatives, including officers of the Nigeria Police Force and the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), were on ground to ensure the protest remained peaceful as the students marched through major routes in Ibadan.
The demonstration comes amid an escalating standoff between the Dangote Refinery and industry unions — the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), and the Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association of Nigeria (DAPPMAN) — over alleged operational and pricing disputes.
The refinery, owned by billionaire industrialist Aliko Dangote, has been hailed as a national economic lifeline, with the potential to end Nigeria’s decades-long dependence on imported petroleum products. Read More
