By Owei Lakemfa
I have, given my experience as a retired labour leader, journalist, patriot and human rights activist, risen in the last few weeks to defend the fundamental rights of workers in the oil industry.
I did this because I cannot fold my hands as Dangote Plc dumps huge funds on the mass and social media in a desperate attempt to bury the truth. This is part of its attempts to overwhelm the country and hold Nigerians hostage as it seeks to impose a monopoly on the country as regards petroleum products.
I have sought only to present facts and, demolish the mountain of lies heaped on the country by Dangote Plc.
Consequently, I have been bombarded by fellow Nigerians with questions over which they want clarification as they search for the truth. I have been glad to provide this on individual and collective basis.
This has included debunking the initial lies by Dangote that the workers do not want to belong to legal unions. If these were true, the workers would not have voluntarily joined NUPENG and PENGASSAN and, in any case, Dangote would not have needed to sack over 800 workers for belonging to the unions.
Let me at this point, address an issue raised by some concerned Nigerians who have been deliberately misinformed that NUPENG charges N54,O00 as Union dues.
First, let me explain that Union dues are legitimate and that workers who are members of each union, decide the dues to pay. In other words, such dues are arrived at based on completely democratic processes.
Contrary to the falsehood that the union dues collected by NUPENG is N54,000 for a 45,000-litre fuel truck, the union dues is actually N7,000.
Secondly, based on collective bargaining and agreement with the truck owners, there are a plethora of other dues totaling N12,000 paid in the overall interest of the tanker drivers. These cover HMO Health Insurance for each driver provided through Leadway Health Insurance.
There is Accident Insurance for each driver as he carries inflammable materials over long distances.
Equally, quarterly training and retraining per zone is organized for each driver with the Federal Road Safety Corps, Police, Fire Service, State VIO and other traffick enforcement agencies in order to reduce oil tanker accidents on our roads. This N12,000 also covers the hiring of vigilante and, payment for security agents to provide security for all tanker drivers across the country so they do not fall victims of bandits, truck hijackers or community/local government toughies who try to impose local fees on fuel tankers.
PTD – NUPENG union dues is N7,000 and it is a loading system, which means payment is made only when the fuel tanker is loaded and, payment is made by the Truck Owner based on the Collective Bargaining Agreement between the PTD-NUPENG ( employee union) and the Nigeria Association of Road Transport Owners ( Employers Association).
Please, if you want any clarification on this NUPENG/PENGASSAN faceoff with Dangote Plc, send it and I will go out of my way as a journalist to fact check and provide you the facts. The only thing I ask for is a cultured interaction not name calling or insults against labour or Dangote and his company.
My respects to all.
