President of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), Alex Osifo, has said that the country is bigger than Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, as well as the Presidency.
Osifo said this in reaction to an admonition by the Vice President, Kashim Shettima, who criticised PENGASSAN over its recent strike.
Shettima had warned that the country was bigger than the union, saying Dangote was an institution that deserves respect and support.
Reacting to this, Osifo said he and his people had the mandate to defend workers’ rights.
‘The Punch’ quotes him as saying: “Of course the nation is bigger than PENGASSAN, the way it’s bigger than Dangote and the Presidency. We have a mandate to protect the jobs of our members, that we will discharge whenever the need arises,
“Should this same event occur again tomorrow, our approach will be exactly the same,” he stated.
Asked for his reaction to social media comments that the Federal Government might be pushed to dissolve PENGASSAN because a strike by its members threatened energy security, Osifo responded, “Does the law prohibit workers’ right to strike?”
Similarly, the General Secretary of PENGASSAN, Lumumba Okugbawa, said, “Is Nigeria not bigger than any individual or institution?”
