NUPENG Strike Begins Today Despite FG Intervention

By Ada Samson, Abuja

The Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers yesterday confirmed its nationwide industrial action will commence today, Monday, September 8th, 2025, despite a last-minute intervention by the Federal Government to avert the strike.

The decision threatens to trigger immediate fuel scarcity and economic disruption across the country.

The union’s grievance stems from the Dangote Petroleum Refinery’s plan to import 4,000 Compressed Natural Gas-powered trucks for direct fuel distribution, a move NUPENG claims threatens the livelihoods of its Petroleum Tanker Drivers branch. The union alleges that drivers for these new trucks are being forced to sign agreements not to join any union.

In a statement jointly signed by its President, Williams Akporeha, and the General Secretary, Afolabi Olawale, NUPENG accused the refinery of anti-labour practices. The union described the decision as “an affront to freedom of association guaranteed under the 1999 Constitution and a breach of international labour conventions to which Nigeria is a signatory.”

Despite several meetings to persuade the refinery’s management to reconsider, the union’s appeals were allegedly ignored. The matter escalated when MRS oil firm, owned by Aliko Dangote’s cousin, Sayyu Dantata, reportedly began recruiting drivers and “compelled them to sign undertakings not to belong to any oil and gas union.”

In a bid to halt the action, the Minister of Labour and Employment, Muhammad Dingyadi, summoned all parties to a conciliation meeting in Abuja today. The minister appealed to NUPENG to suspend its planned shutdown and called on the Nigeria Labour Congress to withdraw the “red alert” it issued in solidarity with oil workers.

“I have invited all the parties for a conciliation meeting tomorrow, Monday, September 8, 2025. Since I have intervened, I plead with NUPENG to rescind their decision to shut down the petroleum sector from tomorrow. I also appeal to the NLC to withdraw the red alert it issued to its affiliate unions to be on standby for a nationwide strike,” Dingyadi said.

He warned that the strike would cause widespread hardship, stating, “The petroleum sector is very important to this country. It constitutes the core of the country’s economy. A strike in the petroleum sector, even for just a day, will have an adverse impact. It will not only lead to revenue losses running into billions of naira but also cause untold hardship for Nigerians.”

However, according to a report by PUNCH, NUPENG President Williams Akporeha insisted the strike would proceed as planned, pending the outcome of today’s meeting. He confirmed that the government had reached out but stated the intervention was not enough to call off the action.

“The Federal Government and the NNPC are reaching out, but there is nothing concrete yet,” Akporeha said. Asked if the strike would still start on Monday, Akporeha replied, “Yes, though the Minister of Labour has called for a meeting. The meeting will be held tomorrow (Monday) in Abuja. But the strike starts tomorrow morning as planned.”

Petroleum marketers have declared they will have no choice but to shut their filling stations in solidarity. The National President of the Petroleum Products Retail Outlet Owners Association of Nigeria, Billy Gillis-Harry, said his members would close because their pump attendants are NUPENG members.

“PETROAN will have no choice because some of our staff are members of NUPENG. And once those people go on strike, our stations will be vulnerable, so we will not open the stations. That is our concern. The reality is that if our pump attendants, who are members of NUPENG, don’t come to work for any reason, what are we going to do in these stations?” he said.

NUPENG also disowned a statement from a group called the Direct Trucking Company Drivers Association, which had urged Nigerians to disregard the strike. The union labelled the DTCDA a creation of the Dangote refinery management, alleging its president, Enoch Kanawa, “is a lawyer, not a tanker driver.”

The union’s position has been bolstered by support from human rights lawyer Femi Falana, SAN. In a statement, Falana said the Dangote Group’s policy “contravenes Section 40 of the Constitution, Section 12 of the Trade Union Act, and Article 10 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights.”

“Slavery ended centuries ago. Any worker who cannot exercise the right of association is no better than a slave. Ordinary Nigerians should neither encourage nor support slavish working conditions,” the NUPENG statement declared.

Conversely, the group Economic Rights Activists described the planned strike as a “reckless and unpatriotic assault on the masses.” Its Executive Director, Dr Josiah Inuwa, warned at a press conference that “transport fares will skyrocket, food prices will soar, hospitals will lose power, and small businesses will collapse.”

As the nation awaits the outcome of the meeting between the government and the union, the strike action begins, leaving millions of Nigerians bracing for the impact of a potentially severe fuel shortage.