Nigeria’s petroleum industry is once again facing turbulence as the fragile peace pact between the Nigerian Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) and the $20 billion Dangote Petroleum Refinery collapses.
The truce, brokered by the Federal Government on September 9 at the headquarters of the Department of State Services (DSS), was meant to end a strike that paralysed fuel supply nationwide. But within two days, NUPENG alleged the refinery reneged on the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU).
Union president Williams Akporeha accused refinery truck operator Sayyu Aliu Dantata of deploying security agencies against workers, forcing drivers to remove NUPENG stickers, and bypassing agreed loading rules.
“His wealth cannot make him above the law. Security agents should not allow an individual to ride roughshod even while not observing terms of agreement reached in meetings in which they themselves facilitated,” Akporeha stated.
The refinery, however, countered these allegations, insisting that accusations of union suppression were “categorically false.” It said it was committed to labour rights and national development, adding that its Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) trucking scheme would create more than 60,000 jobs with superior welfare packages.
Fuel marketers, under the Petroleum Products Retail Outlet Owners Association of Nigeria (PETROAN), urged both parties to honour the agreement to prevent another nationwide scarcity.
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) described the refinery’s actions as a “gross violation,” while one of its executives warned that treating Nigeria as “the Dangote Republic” was “treasonous.”
Analysts caution that the breakdown of this truce could severely damage industrial peace and test the credibility of government-brokered agreements. For the average citizen, the consequences would be felt most at petrol stations.
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