Nigerian economist, Professor Ken Ife, has come hard on the ongoing PENGASSAN strike, warning that reckless union actions could scare away vital investments and even hurt the same workers they claim to defend.
Speaking on Channels Television on Monday, Prof Ife didn’t hold back. He recalled his experience in the UK during his PhD days in the early 1980s, when former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher clashed with coal miners. According to him, that crisis crippled the industry, just like America’s car manufacturing sector later shifted to China.
“Those losses,” he said, “came from unions that refused to respect the law or embrace healthy industrial relations. They pretended to fight for workers, but in reality, they destroyed jobs.”
“Dangote Can Find His Own Way”
Turning to Nigeria’s present situation, Prof Ife warned that Dangote could easily bypass union disruptions.
“Dangote may decide to use inland waterways to move fuel across the country. Are you going to stop him? He may even build his own pipeline since the NNPC one has failed. Will you block him from distributing fuel?” he asked pointedly.
$20 Billion At Stake
For Prof Ife, the bigger picture is clear: Dangote’s $20 billion investment is not something Nigeria can afford to toy with.
“What are you thinking you’re doing? If he has $20 billion to invest in your economy, when you can’t even get $2 billion in FDI, you think you can just destroy that? You think you can stand in front of a moving train?” he fired.
Final Warning
Prof Ife’s message to striking unions was blunt: fighting such massive investments will only end in failure.
“It doesn’t work, and it’s not going to work,” he concluded.
His remarks come as tension between petroleum unions and industry players continues to heat up, raising fears about how prolonged strikes could damage Nigeria’s fragile economy.
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