NUPENG suspends nationwide strike after truce with Dangote
The Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) has suspended its nationwide strike after reaching an agreement with the management of Dangote Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited on workers’ unionisation.
On Monday, NUPENG declared a nationwide industrial action to protest the refusal of the Dangote Group to allow its workers to join the union.
The strike had raised fears of imminent fuel scarcity across the country.
The breakthrough came during a two-day high-level conciliation meeting convened by the Minister of Labour and Employment in Abuja, with the intervention of the Department of State Services (DSS).
Also in attendance the yesterday’s meeting were the Ministers of Labour and Finance, representatives of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC).
The Dangote management team was led by Mr. Sayyu Dantata, Group Managing Director.
In the signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), Dangote management accepted that unionization is a fundamental right of its employees and pledged to implement it without interference.
“The management is not averse to unionization. We will abide by the provisions of the law and ensure employees who wish to join unions are free to do so without interference,” Mr. Sayyu Dantata, Managing Director of Dangote Group, who led the team, was quoted to have said after signing the agreement.
The MoU further stipulates that “Unionization of employees must be completed between September 9–22, 2025, no employer-sponsored or alternative unions will be created, no worker will be victimised for participating in the strike or supporting unionisation and both parties will report back to the Minister of Labour a week after the process concludes.”
Acting General Secretary of NLC, Benson Upah, who led the NLC team, was quoted as saying, “This agreement reaffirms that unionization is not a privilege but a fundamental right. Nigerian workers at the Dangote Refinery will no longer be treated as outsiders in their own industry.”
The MoU was signed by Mr. Sayyu Dantata and Otunba Jibrin for the management, Comrade Benson Upah for NLC, Prince Williams Akporeha and Afolabi Olawale for NUPENG, Nuhu Toro for TUC, Mr. O.K. Ukoha for NMDPRA, and Falonipe Amos for the Ministry of Labour and Employment.
