By Achadu Gabriel, Kaduna
Protesters under the banner of Partners for National Economic Progress (PANEP) on Monday took to the major streets of Kaduna State, accusing oil industry cartels of sabotaging local refining efforts and undermining Nigeria’s economic recovery.
The protest, which began around 8 a.m. at Murtala Mohammed Square, moved through major roads in the city, with demonstrators carrying placards and chanting solidarity songs.
The mammoth crowd, brandishing placards with inscriptions such as “Protect Local Refining,” “End Fuel Import Cartel,” and “Support Dangote Refinery,” urged the government to act against what they described as a coordinated effort to keep Nigeria dependent on imported fuel.
Protest leaders, Comrade Igwe Ude-Umanta and Comrade Dahiru Umar Maishanu, addressed the crowd separately, describing the march as part of a nationwide campaign to expose what they called “economic saboteurs.”
According to Maishanu,
“This struggle is against the cartel that destroyed our public refineries, killed the textile industry, and now wants to strangle the Dangote Refinery.”
In his own remarks, Ude-Umanta declared to thunderous applause:
“We will not let them succeed. The days of holding Nigeria hostage are over.”
The organisers said the movement began in Abuja on October 2 as part of a national push to stop groups profiting from Nigeria’s economic challenges.
Protest leaders highlighted Kaduna as a symbolic location, citing the collapse of the city’s once-thriving textile industry.
“Kaduna used to be a textile hub before the same pattern of sabotage destroyed it,” one of them lamented. “Today, they want to replicate the same in our petroleum sector by frustrating local refining. We will resist them.”
The protest, themed “National Unity Against Sabotage: Reclaiming Our Petroleum Sector for the People,” urged the Federal Government to take swift action to protect the Dangote Refinery from what the group described as “systematic attacks” by oil importers.
Ude-Umanta criticized the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), accusing the union of undermining the Dangote Refinery’s success.
“What PENGASSAN did was not unionism; it was sabotage,” he said. “The Federal Government should have arrested their leadership to serve as a deterrent. We cannot allow people to hide under labour unions to commit crimes against our economy.”
PANEP called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who also serves as Minister of Petroleum Resources, to ensure that local refineries such as Dangote’s have access to crude oil at the same price offered to foreign buyers. The group argued that this policy would sustain refinery operations and attract more investment.
The protesters further demanded that the government end, or at least heavily tax, fuel imports to protect domestic industries.
“Countries that impose tariffs are not stupid; they are protecting their economies,” Ude-Umanta added.
They also accused the oil cartel of blocking the domestic sale of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) and Aviation Turbine Kerosene (Jet A1), thereby keeping prices high for consumers.
“They are punishing Nigerians to protect their greed,” Ude-Umanta alleged.
Protesters commended the Dangote Refinery for its early efforts to reduce petrol and diesel prices, claiming that the initiative had already provided relief for many Nigerians.
“This movement is about economic salvation,” Maishanu said. “If we allow them to kill the Dangote Refinery, no investor will ever risk bringing money into this country again. We must protect this refinery as our own.”
The protest ended with a call on President Tinubu to, in their words,
“crush every enemy of Nigeria’s economic progress.”
