The Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) has condemned recent remarks by Senator Adams Oshiomhole on national television, describing them as a distortion of labour laws and an attack on workers’ rights.
In a statement jointly signed by NUPENG President Williams Akporeha and General Secretary Afolabi Olawale on Monday in Abuja, the union accused Oshiomhole — a former labour leader — of becoming “an advocate of corporate oppression” by supporting employers against workers’ rights to unionise and take peaceful industrial action.
The union said Oshiomhole’s call for a moratorium on unionisation was “absurd and archaic,” insisting it had no basis in Nigerian labour law or international conventions.
It cited Section 40 of the 1999 Constitution, Section 9(6) of the Labour Act, and ILO Conventions 87 and 98, which guarantee freedom of association.
NUPENG also defended the ongoing PENGASSAN strike in solidarity with sacked workers at the Dangote Refinery, saying such actions were lawful under the Trade Unions Act.
“By denouncing the PENGASSAN strike and justifying the dismissal of over 800 engineers for unionising, Oshiomhole has betrayed the working class,” the statement read.
The union described his comments as “historical revisionism and political amnesia,” recalling that he once led strikes as NLC president on the same principles he now criticises.
NUPENG declared the senator “persona non grata” within the oil and gas labour community and urged the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Trade Union Congress (TUC), and civil society groups to take note.
The union reaffirmed its solidarity with PENGASSAN and vowed to continue legal and industrial actions to protect workers’ rights. “Oshiomhole has lost the moral right to comment on labour issues,” the statement concluded.
