The closed-door meeting convened by the Federal Government to broker peace between the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) and the Dangote Group has ended in a deadlock.

The meeting was led by the Minister of Labour and Employment, Mohammed Dingyadi, as well as the Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Nkiruka Onyejeocha, as part of efforts to resolve the industrial dispute between the two parties to avert the planned industrial action by NUPENG.

Present at the meeting were the national executives of NUPENG and officials of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC).

Also present was the Executive Director, Distribution Systems, Storage and Retailing Infrastructure of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), Ogbugo Ukoha, as well as representatives of the Dangote Group and MRS Petroleum.

Also in attendance were officials of the NMDPRA, and the Dangote Group, among others.

Briefing the press on the outcome of the meeting, which lasted for close to seven hours, the spokesperson for the Nigeria Labour Congress, Benson Upah, said, “The representative of the Dangote Refinery walked out on the minister and organised labour.

“So there was no agreement? No, even when we bent backwards to accommodate his uncompromising behaviour, he still did what he had to do. So we are left with no option but to do the needful. The action continues.”

NUPENG had on Friday announced that it would begin an industrial action on September 8, 2025, a development that could lead to fuel scarcity.

Its decision stemmed from the Dangote Petroleum Refinery’s plan to import 4,000 Compressed Natural Gas-powered trucks for direct fuel distribution to retailers.

Although the scheme, earlier scheduled to begin on August 15, was delayed by logistics challenges in China, the refinery said it would kick off once a substantial number of the trucks arrived.

But in a statement jointly signed by Akporeha and the General Secretary, Afolabi Olawale, last Friday, NUPENG accused the Dangote refinery of anti-labour practices that threatened the livelihoods of members of its Petroleum Tanker Drivers branch.

The union lamented that the refinery’s owner, Aliko Dangote, had insisted that new drivers for the imported trucks would not be allowed to join any union. It described the decision as an affront to freedom of association guaranteed under the 1999 Constitution and a breach of international labour conventions to which Nigeria is a signatory.

NUPENG recalled that it had held several meetings, alongside the Nigerian Association of Road Transport Owners, to persuade Dangote to reconsider. However, its appeals were allegedly ignored.

The matter got to its climax when MRS oil firm, owned by Dangote’s cousin, Sayyu Dantata, reportedly began the recruitment of drivers for the CNG truck and compelled them to sign undertakings not to belong to any oil and gas union.

As a result, NUPENG said its members would stop fuel loading nationwide from Monday if the situation remained unresolved.

NUPENG said it would not stand by and watch while jobs were being eroded.

In a bid to avert the strike, the Minister of Labour and Employment, Muhammad Dingyadi, announced on Sunday that he had summoned all parties to a conciliation meeting in Abuja. The intervention aims to defuse rising tensions over alleged anti-unionisation policies at the refinery.

The meeting, which was earlier scheduled to start by 10:00 am on Monday, suffered a setback and did not start until minutes past 5 pm due to the late arrival of Union officials.

Sources at the meeting noted that following the intermediary role played by the labour ministry, resolutions of the Memorandum of Understanding were read for all parties to agree upon and sign.

However, disagreements with some of the resolutions by officials of the Dangote group led to further talks.

NUPENG had last Friday announced that its members would cease work from September 8 in protest against alleged moves by the Dangote Refinery to prevent its compressed natural gas (CNG) tanker drivers from joining labour unions.

Although both the Petroleum Tanker Drivers (PTD) and the Direct Trucking Company Drivers Association (DTCDA) distanced themselves from the planned action, NUPENG reaffirmed on Sunday that it would proceed with the industrial action.

Worried by the impact of the planned strike, the Federal Government on Sunday urged the union to reconsider its decision.

Dingyadi, in a statement signed by the ministry’s head of information, Patience Onuobia, appealed to NUPENG to suspend the strike and give room for dialogue.

The Minister of Labour and Employment also called on the NLC to withdraw the red alert it issued to affiliate unions, which directed them to prepare for solidarity action against what they described as “anti-worker and anti-union practices” by the Dangote Group.

The minister said, “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.

“The petroleum sector is very important to this country. It constitutes the core of the economy. A strike, even for just a day, will have an adverse impact, leading to heavy revenue losses running into billions of naira and causing untold hardship for Nigerians.”

He assured Nigerians that the matter would be resolved amicably, stressing that stability in the petroleum sector was crucial to national economic well-being.

Falana backs NUPENG

Also weighing in, human rights lawyer, Femi Falana, SAN, backed NUPENG’s position, stating that the Dangote Group’s policy contravened Section 40 of the Constitution, Section 12 of the Trade Union Act, and Article 10 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights.

Falana added that the policy also violated several international agreements Nigeria is party to, including the International Labour Organisation’s conventions on freedom of association and collective bargaining, as well as the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

But the Minister of State for Health, Isaq Salako, warned that a nationwide strike by NUPENG would severely impact hospitals across the country due to their reliance on fuel-powered generators.

Salako, who spoke in an interview on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily programme on Monday, said, “A strike by NUPENG will obviously affect the health sector because, as it is today, our hospitals are 65 to 80 per cent dependent on diesel and petrol generators.

“So if there is a strike, it will also have an adverse effect on the health sector, and you obviously don’t want that.”

He, therefore, appealed to both parties in the dispute to exercise restraint in the interest of the public.