The Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) has threatened to resume its suspended nationwide strike, accusing the Dangote Group of reneging on a recent agreement on workers’ rights.
The development is coming barely two days after the union signed an agreement with Dangote Refinery and Petrochemicals that ended weeks of faceoff with the conglomerate over its refusal to uniosise workers.
According to the union on Thursday, the resolutions reached and signed on September 9 at the Department of State Services (DSS) office attended by three federal ministers and senior security officials had already been flouted by the Dangote management.
Despite the MoU, matters came to a head as NUPENG alleged that Alhaji Sayyu Aliu Dantata, a senior Dangote executive, instructed truck drivers who are long-standing members of its Petroleum Tanker Drivers (PTD) branch to remove union stickers from their vehicles, a move the union described as a direct violation of the pact on unionisation.
According to the union, matters further escalated when drivers attempted to enter the Dangote Refinery to load products despite not meeting union regulations, leading to a standoff with NUPENG officials.
NUPENG president, Williams Akporeha, accused Dantata of flying over the scene in an helicopter before calling in naval personnel “ostensibly to crush the union officials.”
The union warned that such actions showed disregard for both state institutions and the rule of law.
It called on the federal government to prevent security agencies from being used as tools of intimidation in labour disputes.
“We call on the government not to allow the Navy and other security agents, being paid by the resources of this country, to be used with impunity against the laws and people of this country,” NUPENG said.
It urged the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), the Trade Union Congress (TUC), civil society groups, and international labour bodies to stand in solidarity, insisting that no individual, regardless of wealth, should be seen as above the law.
The union said its members had been placed on “red alert” for the resumption of strike action if the situation persists.
“This is to alert the general public and the government of the federal republic of Nigeria that notwithstanding the resolution reached and signed at the office of the DSS with three ministers of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Deputy Director General of the DSS in attendance on the right of unionisation of the Workers, Alh Sayyu Aliu Dantata on Wednesday, 10th September, 2025 instructed all his Truck Drivers who are NUPENG-PTD members for several years to remove the Union Stickers from their trucks yesterday.
“Today, Thursday, 11th September, 2025, he instructed them to forcefully drive into Dangote Refinery to load and Union officials stopped them from entering the Refinery to load because their trucks violated Union loading rules and regulations.
“We are by this statement placing all our members on red alert for the resumption of the suspended nationwide industrial action and calling on the Nigeria Labour Congress, Trade Union Congress, all Regional and Global Working people and Civil Society Organizations to rise in support and solidarity against this threat of the Capitalist world,” the NUPENG President stated.
