MURIC Rallies in Defence of Dangote Refinery, Condemns Union Moves as Threat to Nigeria’s Economy
The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) on Wednesday held a peaceful rally in Lagos to express solidarity with the Dangote Refinery and condemn what it described as attempts by oil unions to sabotage the multi-billion-dollar private refinery.
Speaking during the rally, the Executive Director of MURIC, Professor Ishaq Akintola, said the group took to the streets “to make Nigeria greater,” lamenting the decades of hardship Nigerians have faced due to persistent fuel scarcity despite the country’s vast oil resources.
“We are here today because we want Nigeria to rise,” Akintola declared. “For over 40 years, fuel has become a curse in Nigeria. We slept at filling stations, our cars broke down on the road, and we got stranded. Yet Nigeria is Africa’s largest oil producer. It is a tragedy that we are in the midst of the ocean and have no cup of water to drink.”
The MURIC director praised business mogul Alhaji Aliko Dangote for what he described as a patriotic intervention through the establishment of the Dangote Refinery, noting that the facility has significantly boosted Nigeria’s economy.
“From the blues came a Nigerian industrialist with patriotism in his DNA — Alhaji Aliko Dangote — who started the Dangote Refinery,” Akintola said. “It produces 1.4 million barrels daily, enough for Nigeria’s consumption. Even America, France, Angola, and Ghana have imported Dangote’s oil. This has earned Nigeria billions of dollars and strengthened the naira.”
He attributed the recent improvement of the naira’s value partly to the refinery’s foreign exchange earnings, stressing that any attempt to disrupt its operation would harm the nation’s economic recovery.
“Any attack or sabotage on Dangote Refinery is a direct attack on Nigeria’s economy,” Akintola warned. “This refinery is the goose laying the golden eggs for our country. Instead of supporting it, some groups now want to introduce unionism to destabilize it like they did with the government-owned refineries.”
Participants at the rally carried placards with inscriptions such as “No More Fuel Queue,” “Support Dangote Refinery,” and “Any Attack on Dangote Is an Attack on Nigeria.”
They also chanted solidarity songs including “Solidarity Forever, We Shall Fight for Our Lives,” and “No More Fuel Crisis.”
MURIC urged Nigerians to rally behind the refinery, describing it as a national asset that symbolizes self-reliance, economic resilience, and renewed hope for the country’s energy future.
