By Lucky Isibor
Nigerian students under the aegis of National Association of Polytechnic Students (NAPS), the umbrella association of Nigerian students in Polytechnics, Monotenics and Colleges of Technology have appealed to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to put a total ban on the importation of refined petroleum products.
The ban is meant to protect local refineries from the nefarious activities of economic terrorism, sabotage and those who are mansqurading as labour unions in the nation’s oil and gas industry.
The students made the appeal on Wednesday, in Benin City at a solidarity rally themed “Protecting National Assets, Securing Youth Futures: NAPS Solidarity with Dangote Refinery for Economic Growth and Stability,” by the National Association of Polytechnic Students to drum support for the local refineries, (like the Dangote Refinery), against the backdrop of alleged sabotage of the refinery by some labour union members who are not even employees of the
refinery.
Addressing the rally which saw the students carrying placards along major roads and the Oba Ovoramwen Square in Benin City, the National President of NAPS, Comrade Eshiofune Paul Oghayan, noted that the Dangote Refinery has the capacity to end decades of fuel importation, boost the nation’s foreign exchange reserve and other accompanying economic multiplier effects.
While pointing out that the solidarity rally is not to massage the personal ego of the man, Aliko Dangote, Oghayanga stated that it is about the future the promoter of the refinery built in the nation’s future economic wellbeing, vowing that they’ll defend that future.
“Today, we gather here in Benin City, Edo State, not as spectators of national affairs, but as stakeholders in Nigeria’s industrial destiny.
We stand as the conscience of the youth, the inheritors of tomorrow, and the defenders of every structure that guarantees the future we are preparing to lead.
“This rally is not a noise, it is a national message.
It is not a protest of anger, it is a position of responsibility.
We are here because silence, at this moment, would be sabotage wrapped in cowardice.
“In a country where refineries died one after another in Kaduna, Warri, Port Harcourt one refinery rose, not from foreign hands, but from Nigerian courage.
The Dangote Refinery is not merely a business venture; it is the largest single-train refinery in the world… built by African hands, on African soil, with African grit.
“We call on the Federal Government to defend and protect the Dangote Refinery and other local Refinery as a national strategic asset.
Any sabotage against them must be treated as economic terrorism.
“We pray that 100% crude oil supply is allocated to the Dangote Refinery.
If we feed the refinery fully, it will crash fuel prices, strengthen the Naira, and stop the bleeding of foreign exchange.
“We call on the Federal Government to HALT the importation of fuel entirely.
While we appreciate the 15% slash in fuel importation approved by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, we insist that half-measures cannot deliver full recovery.
Nigeria must refine what we use.
“We demand national priority for locally refined fuel in government procurement, transport, aviation, power and military sectors.”
They urged the President to dismantle the importation cartel and support genuine national industrialization .
Also the National Assembly should pass a “Local Refining Protection Bill”—to criminalize any form of sabotage against local refining industries.
“That the Federal Government scrap PENGASSAN, NUPENG, and DAPMAN, as these bodies have become tools of economic blackmail and national regression, standing in opposition to progress.”
While calling on Nigerian students to use their social media handles to send messages to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the Senate President and other influential Nigerians, Oghayan enumerated what Nigerian youths will lose in the event of the shut down of Dangote Refinery.
He added that, it has the capacity to end decades of fuel importation dependency, stabilize fuel prices and reduce the suffering of citizens, create thousands of jobs for Nigerian students/youths, including SIWES placements, restore Nigeria as the refining hub of Africa, strengthen the Naira through export, not begging.
“If we lose this refinery, we lose more than fuel—we lose a generation of industrial opportunity.
We lose jobs, internships, research, technology transfer, and national dignity.” They concluded.