The Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, Lagos State chapter has censured Africa’s richest man Aliko Dangote over the 89 labourers from Katsina linked to his refinery.
A video of 89 men arriving Lagos from Katsina in a truck had gone viral, with the narrator suggesting they posed a risk to the security of Lagos State, a claim that gained traction with several respondents online.
The concern raised got the Lagos State police command to swing into investigation, according to its spokesperson, Benjamin Hundeyin.
“Upon receipt of the information on May 14, 2025, officers from the command immediately deployed to the location to ascertain the facts.
“Preliminary investigations revealed that the young men in question, 89 in number, had arrived from Katsina State and were recruited to work as labourers at the Dangote Refinery in Lekki,” Hundeyin tweeted.
The police clarification triggered
the chairperson of NLC in Lagos State, Comrade Funmi Sessi, to verbally attack Dangote, accusing him and his company of passing over people residing in their host community on employment matters.
Sessi made the reproach on the sideline of the National Executive Council of the National Union of Food Beverages and Tobacco Employees (NUFBTE) in Abuja.
“My position is that what the Dangote Refinery did is very wrong.
“These people are low-income earners. The rule of engagement and labour rules have stated clearly that 70 per cent of those in the locality should be given the opportunity while 30 per cent can be given to those who have skills.
“Which kind of skills will they tell us that these people have that the young people who are unemployed in the locality don’t have? Which competence don’t those people in the community have? This is an aberration.
“I believe Dangote can’t do this. He has companies in all parts of this country; why couldn’t he recruit these guys for his company in the northern part and reserve these ones for those in the South, where the refinery is situated?” she said.
Speaking further: “Anyway, this is not the first time he is doing this. Dangote is fond of bringing in Indians and other expatriates as technicians.
“He prefers to bring foreigners who don’t even have the knowledge of our own local people. This is unacceptable to us.
“We are already calling him out. This is the first series of it. We are also using this opportunity to tell the government of Lagos State and the Federal Ministry of Labour that Dangote has committed an aberration of the highest order.
“Those guys should be taken back to Dangote’s companies in the northern part, not in Lagos State. If Dangote refuses to do this, we will involve the NLC at the national level to fight this act of bringing 89 unskilled workers to Lagos State.”
