Indian metal workers at the site of the Dangote Refinery complex in Lagos have staged a protest over what they claim is poor working conditions and being forced to work during the coronavirus pandemic.
The also claim they have not been paid for 3 months by the sub-contractor Power Mech Company.
A video seen by MoneyCentral shows a man speaking in Hindi surrounded by tens of workers, which was translated as:
“Dear brothers, we the citizens of India are speaking from Dangote Refinery which is situated almost 60kms away from Lagos in Nigeria. We are the workers of Dangote Refinery. The whole world is suffering from corona virus which is a global pandemic. In this situation, Nigeria has also announced its lockdown.
During this situation of lockdown, the workers of Power Mech Company are being forced to work. The staff here are forcing us to work through physical violence.
We request the Prime Minister of India, Mr Narendra Modi and the Home Minister Mr Amit Shah to help us in this situation.
The people here are forcing us to work by taking us out of our rooms and pushing us into the bus in order to make us work.
The company responsible for this is the Power Mech Company. There are many other Indian companies in Nigeria but none of the workers are being forced to work. All the other companies are abiding by the rules of lockdown. The other workers are safe and secure and staying in their rooms.
Security arrangements have been provided for them but the Power Mech Company has not provided any security for us. We the people working in Power Mech Company have not been paid since three months and there is no food arrangements made for us. The food which is given is worse than those of animals.
In this situation of pandemic, they are not saving us from the disease but are trying to kill us with this disease and are pushing us into it so that we die.
We request our Home Minister Mr Amit Shah and the Prime Minister, Mr Narendra Modi to kindly understand our problems and help us get out of this situation, by taking necessary steps to protect us and save our lives.”
Power Mech Projects Limited, is an Indian engineering and construction company whose Nigerian subsidiary GTA Power Mech Nigeria is in a 50:50 joint venture (JV) with Skipper T&D.
The JV Company got an order for composite work tender unit-V for the Dangote Oil Refining Company in Lagos for $76 million in 2017.
The 650,000 barrels per day capacity refinery currently under construction in Lagos is expected to come on stream by the end of 2022.