Hundreds of students under various Yoruba youth groups on Tuesday staged a peaceful protest in Ibadan, Oyo State, in support of the Dangote Refinery, which is currently in a standoff with oil workers’ unions.
The protesters, drawn from the National Association of Oduduwa Students, the Coalition of Yoruba Students, and the Yoruba Movement, gathered at the Iwo Road Roundabout along the Ibadan-Lagos Expressway, carrying placards and chanting songs of solidarity.
The protest comes amid growing tension between the Dangote Refinery and key oil sector unions including PENGASSAN, NUPENG, and DAPPMAN. The unions are reportedly at odds with the refinery over operational matters, raising fears of sabotage and potential disruption to Nigeria’s fuel supply chain.
Placards displayed by the students read messages such as: “Don’t Kill Dangote Refinery,” “#StopSabotage,” “#DangoteRefineryIsANationalAsset,” and “#EndPENGASSAN.”
The protesters wore matching shirts with the words “Don’t Kill Dangote Refinery” boldly printed, signalling their concern over what they described as a deliberate attempt to frustrate the operations of Nigeria’s biggest industrial project.
Speaking on behalf of the protesters, Olalere Adetunji, one of the student leaders, called on President Bola Tinubu and other government authorities to urgently intervene.
“We want to use this period to appeal to the Federal Government to protect the refinery and ensure that labour and marketers’ actions do not derail Nigeria’s move toward fuel self-sufficiency,” Adetunji said.
He described the refinery as a national asset and warned that any disruption could affect millions of Nigerians and reverse the country’s progress towards ending fuel importation.
The Dangote Refinery, located in Lagos, is the largest single-train refinery in Africa and has been seen as a major hope for reducing Nigeria’s dependence on imported fuel. It began refining operations in 2024 and is expected to meet the bulk of the nation’s petrol demand once fully operational.
As the protest ended peacefully, the students maintained that they would continue to advocate for the protection of the refinery from what they called “economic sabotage.”
