Hundreds of students under the banner of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) yesterday stormed Asaba, the Delta State capital, to protest what they called “Petroleum Industry Revitalisation Sabotage,” accusing powerful interests of undermining Nigeria’s quest for self-sufficiency in petroleum refining.
The protesters, chanting solidarity songs and waving placards that read “Supporting Dangote is Supporting Nigeria’s Economy,” “Stop the War Against Local Industry,” and “No to Wickedness in High Places,” marched from Summit Junction to the city centre. They vowed to resist any attempt to cripple the country’s growing private refinery sector.
Addressing the demonstrators, NANS National President, Comrade Olushola Oladoja, who spoke through the association’s National Financial Secretary, Comrade Jeremiah Friday Ohomah, said Nigerian students would no longer watch “enemies of progress sabotage the revitalisation of the nation’s petroleum industry.”
“Nigeria is blessed with abundant crude oil, yet we remain a paradoxical importer of refined petroleum products,” Oladoja said. “Our refineries in Port Harcourt, Kaduna, and Warri were deliberately crippled through decades of sabotage, mismanagement, and collusion between local and foreign oil interests. This has forced us into a shameful cycle of exporting crude at giveaway prices and importing refined products at cutthroat costs.”
He warned that failure to protect indigenous refiners, particularly the Dangote Refinery and other emerging private operators, could lead to the same collapse that befell Nigeria’s textile industries.
The protesters accused a network of foreign and local oil interests of conspiring to frustrate private refinery operations. They alleged that international oil giants such as BP, Shell, and global traders including Trafigura, Vitol, and Glencore, in collaboration with members of the Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association of Nigeria (DAPPMAN) and certain agencies under the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited’s Direct Sale Direct Purchase (DSDP) scheme, were working to undermine local refiners through trade unions and regulatory bottlenecks.
Oladoja urged the Federal Government to protect national industrial interests against external pressure, drawing parallels with the United States, which he said had taken deliberate protectionist steps to safeguard its industries.
Describing the demonstration as a “warning action,” the students said the protest marked the beginning of a nationwide campaign to defend Nigeria’s industrial future. They warned that unless the alleged sabotage against local refineries is addressed, future demonstrations would escalate across the country.
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