Vice President Kashim Shettima said African richest man, Aliko Dangote, is not an individual but an institution.
The VP declared this in Abuja on Monday at the Nigerian Economic Summit (NES31), themed: “The Reform Imperative: Building a Prosperous and Inclusive Nigeria by 2030” where he remarked that the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) is in not bigger than Nigeria.
The remark is in respect of the industrial action embarked on by PENGASSAN in protest of the sack of 3000 staff by Dangote Refinery which disrupted loading of petroleum products.
“Aliko Dangote is not an individual, he’s an institution, and he’s a leading light in Nigeria’s economic parliament. And how we treat this gentleman will determine how outsiders will judge us. If he had invested $10 billion in Microsoft, Amazon, or Google, he probably might be worth $70 to $80 billion by now.
“But he opted to invest in his country, and we owe it to future generations to jealously protect, promote, preserve, and protect the interests of this great Nigeria.
“I wish to call for caution, retrospection, and a deeper sense of patriotism from both labour and the organised private sector in defining and improving the relationship between labour and industry in the interest of maintaining our steadily improving economic fortunes. It’s not about holding the whole nation to ransom because of a minor labour dispute.
“Nigeria is greater than PENGASSAN. Nigeria is greater than each and every one of us,” Shettima stated.
