Minister intervenes in NUPENG, Dangote group war

Monday, September 8, 2025 - The Minister of Labour and Em­ployment, Muhammad Maigari Dingyadi, is making frantic moves to avert a proposed strike by members of the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG).

To this end, he has summoned an emergency meeting today to broker peace between NUPENG and Dangote Group.

According to Daily Independent , the bone of contention stems from the refusal of the Dangote Group to allow its staff who will be involved in fuel distribution across the country, soon to unio­nise and become members of NUPENG, a development that has not gone down well with the leadership of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC).

Already, the NLC led by Joe Ajaero has backed the proposed strike to compel the Dangote Group to unionise, placing all af­filiate unions on alert to mobilise for the action.

Dingyadi in a statement re­leased by his ministry on Sunday, appealed to NUPENG to reconsid­er their stance on commencing a nationwide industrial action from Monday, September 8, 2025 over their dispute with the Dan­gote Group, bordering on the company’s policy against union­isation by its employees.

“I appeal with the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) to with­draw the red alert it issued to its affiliate unions to be on standby for a nationwide strike in solidar­ity with the petroleum workers, who are protesting alleged an­ti-workers and anti-union agenda of the Dangote Group,” Dingyadi stated.

According to him, since his ministry has intervened in the matter, the unions should shelve their plan of shutting down the petroleum industry, with a view to maintaining peace in this high­ly critical sector of the Nigerian economy.

Dingyadi stated: “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 (today).

“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 consequen­tial impact on the economy. It will not only lead to heavy revenue losses by the country, running into billions of naira, but also cause untold hardship and diffi­culties for Nigerians.

“Hence, I plead with the unions to give peace a chance. I assure them that this matter will be resolved amicably to the satisfaction of all the parties in­volved.”

The minister however assured Nigerians that the dispute will be resolved harmoniously to ensure that no disruption occurs in the petroleum sector, which is vital to the Nigerian economy.

Recall that the ongoing dispute between Aliko Dangote’s refinery operations and the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), centers on allegations that Dangote Indus­tries is preventing its workers— particularly drivers recruited for a fleet of up to 10,000 com­pressed natural gas (CNG)-pow­ered trucks—from joining trade unions.

This development has esca­lated to threats of a nationwide strike by NUPENG starting Sep­tember 8, 2025.

The Federal Government is worried that this could disrupt fuel distribution and lead to scar­city across Nigeria.

The NLC has placed all affili­ated unions on “red alert” in sol­idarity, demanding immediate unionisation across Dangote’s subsidiaries and accusing the company of broader anti-work­er practices.

Dangote Refinery, Africa’s largest single-train facility, an­nounced in June 2025 plans to import thousands of CNG trucks (initially 4,000, later expanded) to directly distribute petrol, diesel, and other products to marketers, dealers, and major users.

The aim is meant to stream­line supply and reduce reliance on imported fuel.

However, NUPENG has al­leged that recruitment for these drivers, starting August 29, 2025, requires signing undertakings explicitly barring membership in any oil and gas union, including NUPENG’s Petroleum Tanker Drivers (PTD) branch.