The Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) has reaffirmed its decision to embark on a nationwide strike beginning Monday, September 8, 2025, over alleged anti-labour practices by the management of Dangote Refinery.
In a joint statement on Sunday signed by its President, Williams Akporeha, and General Secretary, Afolabi Olawale, the union said the action was prompted by the refinery’s refusal to allow drivers of its imported Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) trucks to join NUPENG or its Petroleum Tanker Drivers (PTD) branch.
The statement stressed that members of the PTD would halt the lifting of petroleum products from depots across the country until the issue is resolved.
NUPENG also disowned a counter-statement credited to one Enoch Kanawa, President of the Direct Trucking Company Drivers Association (DTCDA), who had urged Nigerians to disregard the planned strike. According to the union, the DTCDA was created by Dangote Group in collaboration with Alhaji Sayyu Aliu Dantata to weaken organized labour and prevent truck drivers from joining the statutorily recognized NUPENG.
“The DTCDA is a management-inspired association housed at the headquarters of MRS Energy Limited. Its signatory, Barrister Enoch Kanawa, is not a tanker driver but a lawyer with longstanding ties to oil industry operators,” the union stated.
NUPENG further alleged that the Direct Trucking Company was set up by Dangote and Dantata to manage about 10,000 CNG trucks being imported, warning that such arrangements would enforce “slavish conditions” on workers.
“Slavery ended centuries ago, but some unscrupulous capitalists are making efforts to bring it back. Any worker who cannot exercise the right of association is no better than a slave,” the statement added.
The union vowed to resist what it described as attempts to erode workers’ rights, insisting that its solidarity “remains constant” as it moves ahead with the planned industrial action.