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11 August, 2005ICEM News release No. 4/1998
To warm applause from thousands of Dutch trade union delegates, two imprisoned Nigerian oil workers' leaders were awarded one of the world's most important prizes for the defence of trade union rights.
UNION RIGHTS DEFENCE HONOURED
Dabibi's and Kokori's award was presented to Mrs. Dabibi and John Odah by FNV President Lodewijk de Waal.
(photo: FNV Bondgenoten)
Milton Dabibi, General Secretary of oil and gas workers' union PENGASSAN, has been held without charge or trial in Nigeria since January 1996 and Frank Kokori, General Secretary of oil and gas workers' union NUPENG, since 1994.
The Febe Elisabeth Velasquez Prize is presented every two years by the Dutch trade union confederation FNV to outstanding defenders of trade union rights. Receiving the award in Amsterdam on 29 January for her detained husband was Omininibara Dabibi. In brief and necessarily cautious remarks, she thanked the Dutch unions and the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM) for their support in the campaign to secure his release. Frank Kokori's award was received for him by Nigerian trade unionist John Odah.
"WE ALL HAVE A RESPONSIBILITY IN THIS"
FNV Bondgenoten President Henk Krul (left) with Dutch Prime Minister Wim Kok.
(photo: FNV Bondgenoten)
The award presentations by FNV President Lodewijk de Waal were a highlight of the founding congress of new Dutch super-union the FNV Bondgenoten. The merged union has around half a million members, including oil workers, seafarers and port workers (more details in ICEM UPDATE 5/1998). FNV Bondgenoten is affiliated to several union internationals, including the ICEM and the International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF). PENGASSAN and NUPENG are both ICEM affiliates.
Earlier this January, Nigerian head of state Gen. Sani Abacha received a personal call from the ICEM, the ITF and the 125-million-member International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) to release Kokori and Dabibi without further delay.
The ITF and ICFTU have pledged full support for targeted ICEM action against Nigerian oil exports if the two men are not freed. In his policy speech to the founding congress, FNV-Bondgenoten President Henk Krul put the new union firmly behind that action.
Dabibi and Kokori were imprisoned "without any legal charges whatsoever," Krul told delegates. "Because of their fate, and the fate of the Nigerian working class as a whole, we have joined the international boycott of Nigerian oil."
The ICEM put the Nigerian authorities on official notice of targeted action last October. Less than a month later, Gen. Abacha announced that he would be ordering the release of all detainees who no longer posed a threat to Nigeria's national security. Sources close to the Nigerian government say that Dabibi's and Kokori's names are on a list of candidates for release. The Nigerian authorities have not given any official confirmation of this, however, and the list is now said to be in the hands of the Inspector-General of Police. To date, no detainees have been released.
"If red tape is now keeping our colleagues in jail, then the red tape must be cut without further ado," an ICEM spokesman told a press conference in Amsterdam. "The responsibility for cutting it rests with Gen. Abacha. There is no valid reason why Frank Kokori and Milton Dabibi should not be freed immediately and unconditionally."
The Dutch media also reported the ICEM's view that leading oil companies, including Shell, should be doing more to help secure Dabibi's and Kokori's release.
Guests at the FNV Bondgenoten congress included Dutch Prime Minister Wim Kok, himself a former President of the FNV. "I took the opportunity to ask him if the Dutch government shouldn't be doing more to bring about Kokori's and Dabibi's release," Henk Krul told ICEM UPDATE. "I think we all have a responsibility in this. The ICEM is doing the right thing."
Jailed award-winners Milton Dabibi (left) and Frank Kokori. The two oil workers' leaders are still being detained without charge or trial in Nigeria.
Both Kokori and Dabibi are in poor health, and are being denied the medical attention that they need. They are also being denied access to lawyers and to their trade unions. Visits by their families are severely restricted. Their trade unions have been subjected to government intervention ever since the Nigerian oil workers' strike of 1994. Both men are recognised by Amnesty International as prisoners of conscience.