Festus Osifo, President of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), has directly accused Africa's richest man and Dangote Group Chairman Aliko Dangote of deliberately undermining the country's economy.
The allegations, aired during a high-stakes television interview, come amid a deepening labour dispute at the $20 billion Dangote Refinery, where the union claims hundreds of Nigerian workers have been unlawfully sacked for joining PENGASSAN.
Osifo leveled the charges on Sunday Politics, a flagship program on Channels Television, framing Dangote's business practices as a betrayal of the very nation that propelled his empire.
"The person that is sabotaging our economy is Aliko Dangote. The man is who he is today because of Nigeria," Osifo declared, pointing to historical government favors that allegedly built Dangote's dominance.
He specifically alleged that Nigeria granted Dangote a monopoly through a single import license for essential commodities like flour, sugar, and salt, allowing the tycoon to amass wealth at the expense of broader competition and economic diversification.
The accusations extended to the flagship Dangote Refinery in Lekki, which Osifo claimed was constructed using public funds.
"Dangote built his refinery with our money; the Nigerian government subsidised FX for him to build the refinery," he asserted, referring to foreign exchange subsidies that critics argue distorted Nigeria's currency market and favored elite industrialists.
Osifo's remarks were not isolated but tied to PENGASSAN's ongoing standoff with the refinery, where the union alleges that over 800 Nigerian employees were issued dismissal letters shortly after voluntarily joining the association—actions purportedly in violation of Section 40 of the Nigerian Constitution, which guarantees the right to unionize.
The labour row erupted earlier this month when PENGASSAN members at the refinery, numbering around 1,000, submitted membership forms to management.
According to a letter from the union's caretaker committee, signed by Abdulfaitai Muhammed and Eseoghene Choice, refinery security—allegedly on direct orders from Dangote—barred Nigerian staff from entering the facility while allowing expatriates, primarily from India and Pakistan, unrestricted access.
"Staff who had joined PENGASSAN were denied entry... and were informed that it was on the orders of Alhaji Aliko Dangote," the letter stated, painting a picture of preferential treatment for foreign workers amid claims of up to 2,000 undocumented expatriates being hired as replacements.
In retaliation, PENGASSAN issued a nationwide directive on September 28 for its members to withdraw services from the refinery, potentially disrupting crude oil and gas supplies—a move the union insists is a lawful response rather than sabotage.
Osifo rejected any notion that the action harms Nigeria's energy security, instead flipping the narrative: "To every action there is a reaction.
The person sabotaging Nigeria’s economy is Aliko Dangote." The strike call has already drawn federal intervention, with the Nigerian government summoning both parties for emergency talks to avert broader economic fallout.
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