The Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) has declared that there is no going back on its planned nationwide strike set to commence on Monday, insisting that the move is a direct response to the refusal of Dangote Refinery to allow drivers of its newly imported Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) trucks to join any trade union.
In a joint statement released in Abuja on Sunday, Williams Akporeha, NUPENG President, and Afolabi Olawale, the General Secretary, said members of the Petroleum Tanker Drivers (PTD) branch will suspend lifting petroleum products from depots across the country once the strike begins.
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The union also discredited a counter-statement credited to Barrister EnochKanawa, who signed as President of the Direct Trucking Company Drivers Association (DTCDA), dismissing NUPENG’s strike directive. According to NUPENG, the DTCDA is a creation of the Dangote Refinery management aimed at undermining the union’s statutory mandate.
“The attention of the leadership of the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) has been drawn to a news report on ARISE Television on Saturday night 6th September, 2025, and in some daily newspapers of some unidentified persons and group of people calling themselves Direct Trucking Company Drivers Association (DTCDA) asking Nigerians to disregard our alert on the withdrawal of services by Petroleum Tanker Drivers Branch of NUPENG,” the statement read.
“We ask our members, members of the public and independent minded objective segments of the media to disregard (DTCDA) and its statements. For the information of the public, the DTCDA is the Association which Dangote Group of Companies has formed for the drivers to join compulsorily rather than allowing drivers to join NUPENG which is the only statutorily recognized union authorized to unionize Petroleum Tanker Drivers. The signatory to the statement of DTCDA, one Enoch Kanawa, is a lawyer, not a tanker driver.”
The union alleged that DTCDA was floated by Alhaji Sayyu Aliu Dantata and Alhaji Aliko Dangote as part of efforts to control drivers being recruited for the 10,000 CNG trucks being imported into the country.
“DTCDA is the association formed by Alhaji Sayyu Aliu Dantata, the owner of MRS. The Direct Trucking Company Limited is the recruiting company that was formed by him and Alhaji Aliko Dangote for the 10,000 CNG Trucks they are importing. DTCDA was originally meant to be Dangote Transport Company. Its registered office is at 2, Tincan Island Port Road, Apapa, Lagos. The address of DTCDA is the same official address of MRS Energy Limited,” the statement alleged.
The union further described Kanawa as a political actor in the transport sector, recalling his past roles in the National Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO).
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“As a matter of fact, Barrister Kanawa was formerly the Executive Secretary of NARTO from 2001 to 2012, left NARTO to become Legal Adviser to MRS Energy Limited of Alhaji Sayyu Aliu Dantata, and in 2019 came back to contest for the position of the President of NARTO under the sponsorship of Alhaji Sayyu Aliu Dantata but was defeated by Alhaji Yusuf Othman, the current President of NARTO,” the statement continued.
“These facts are to show without doubt and beyond controversy that the DTCDA is a management-inspired Association and the news was created by the agents of Alhaji Sayyu Aliu Dantata to create confusion and misinformation. There is no division in our ranks and file, our solidarity remains constant!”
NUPENG accused Dangote Refinery of attempting to impose “slavish conditions” in the industry and vowed not to yield.
“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. Ordinary Nigerians should neither encourage nor support slavish working conditions,” the union declared.
