Protect Dangote refinery, students urge N’Assembly

The National Association of Polytechnic Students has called on the National Assembly and other stakeholders to take urgent steps to ensure the survival of the Dangote Refinery.

The association’s Senate President, Festus Oyewumi, made the call while addressing journalists in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, on Thursday.

Online reports that NAPS is the umbrella body for all Polytechnics, Monotechnics, Colleges of Education, Technical, Colleges of Health Sciences, Cooperative Colleges, Colleges of Statistics and other allied institutions awarding National Diploma and Higher National Diploma across the six geopolitical zones of Nigeria.

Oyewumi urged both chambers of the National Assembly to sponsor and pass a bill that would protect local refineries, particularly the Dangote Refinery and other indigenous industries driving Nigeria’s economic transformation.

He said, “The time has come for the National Assembly to rise in defence of the national economic interest and protect Nigeria’s domestic refineries in line with the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Tinubu.

“It is on record that Aliko Dangote, through the Dangote Refinery project, sponsored the training of over 3,000 Nigerians in India for a full year to acquire advanced technical expertise.

“Furthermore, he constructed 35,000 housing units in Ibeju-Lekki to accommodate refinery staff — a facility that sits on a landmass larger than the entire Victoria Island. This is not a foreign investment; it is a Nigerian project for Nigerians, and it must be protected as a national asset.

If we allow such an investment to be sabotaged or frustrated, we risk discouraging indigenous industrialists and undermining Nigeria’s march toward self-sufficiency. The Dangote Refinery represents hope — hope for job creation, stable fuel supply, foreign exchange savings, and national pride.”

The student leader urged the Senate, led by Senator Godswill Akpabio; the House of Representatives, led by Speaker Abbas Tajudeen; and the Senator representing Lagos East, Mukhail Abiru — in whose constituency the refinery is located — to champion legislation that would protect and sustain the refinery.

He said, “We urge Senator Abiru to take up this national responsibility as the representative of the host district, and to jointly sponsor and pass a National Industrial Protection Bill that will mandate the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited to ensure 100 per cent crude oil supply to the Dangote Refinery and other local refineries.

“The bill should also enforce a total ban on the importation of refined petroleum products to encourage local production, and establish legal frameworks that shield indigenous investors from internal and external sabotage.”

Oyewumi further called on the lawmakers to ensure the full implementation of the Petroleum Industry Act in a way that prioritises local refining and economic sustainability.

He added, “History will remember this 10th National Assembly as either the legislature that secured Nigeria’s energy independence or the one that allowed powerful saboteurs to cripple our national progress. The choice is theirs. But our voices, as Nigerian students and defenders of the nation’s industrial future, will not be silent.”

In January 2023, Online report that NAPS decried the poor state of infrastructure in the Federal Polytechnic, Kaduna, calling for an urgent intervention in the school.

While addressing journalists in Abuja, the Vice President, external affairs of NAPS at the time, Lawal Muhammed said, “It is often said that the best weapon we can use in shaping the future of any generation is education. As such, when negativity thrives where progress is inevitable, the best option is to extinguish it immediately before it consumes the entire space.

Culled from punch