Former federal lawmaker Shehu Sani has stated that Dangote Group CEO Aliko Dangote seeks profits while avoiding union involvement in his operations.
Speaking during an interview with News Central TV, Sani described the tension between Dangote’s business model and Nigeria’s established tradition of worker protection through unions. “We have a businessman who wants to make a profit and who doesn’t want strikes, who doesn’t want unionism, and who simply sets up a company and wants an uninterrupted supply chain,” Sani stated.
The former senator emphasized that Nigerian workers, particularly in the oil sector, have historically relied on unions for protection against exploitation. “But here you have a tradition of unionism in Nigeria where tanker drivers, oil workers need to be protected by unions, need to be protected from slavery and enslavement and all sorts of exploitation by their employers,” he explained.
Sani argued that any employer seeking to operate without unionized workers should expect scrutiny from labor organizations. “So, if you want to have workers that are not unionized, you have to be questioned by the union. It is as simple as that. So, in that aspect, I believe that mediation between the two should be able to generate a resolution to that problem,” he suggested.
Beyond the labor dispute, Sani criticized the broader corruption plaguing Nigeria’s energy sector, comparing the country unfavorably to other oil-producing nations.
The former lawmaker expressed frustration at Nigeria’s inability to maximize benefits from its oil wealth, contrasting the country’s struggles with the success of other oil-rich nations. “And we are an oil-producing country. But when you go to countries like Qatar, like Kuwait, like Saudi Arabia, you start wondering: what kind of oil do we have? What kind of business do we have? We’re not making a profit from what we’re doing,” he observed.
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