Africa’s richest man and President of the Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, has accused the Nigerian Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers of collecting up to N50,000 on every truck that loads fuel at his refinery.

Dangote warned that such charges would ultimately push up fuel pump prices and burden consumers.

“I am saying that there are several charges here, where if a truck is going to load, NUPENG has been collecting about N50,000 or N48,000 on each truck. By the time everybody collects their own, you are talking about N80,000 to N84,000. So, who pays for that cost? The consumer actually pays,” Dangote declared.

Dangote described such charges as acts of rent-seeking that discourage efficiency in the sector. According to him, the company has learned from its past experiences as a fuel importer when transporters allegedly held Dangote Group “by the neck,” compelling him to establish an in-house fleet under his brother’s management.

“Now that we have launched our own CNG trucks, we will not allow any group to hold us hostage. If there is no evacuation, there is nothing we can do,” he stressed.

Dangote further reiterated that no driver or worker should be compelled to join a union, insisting that the constitution and labor laws make union membership voluntary.

“If anybody wants to join the union, even our own workers, we say, ‘Fine, go and join.’ But it must be voluntary. Even religion is voluntary—you cannot force anyone to convert,” he said.

NUPENG President Williams Akporeha neither confirmed nor denied the allegation of N50,000 charges. Instead, he responded cryptically: “N50k (N50,000) now? No more N1 per litre?” In an earlier response to viral claims that the union imposed ₦1 per litre charges, Akporeha had maintained: “One can’t stop people from having their opinion. Ask who alleges to provide proof.”

The controversy comes after NUPENG shut down depots recently and briefly blockaded the Dangote refinery over disputes surrounding drivers’ unionization. Industry experts have raised concerns about the legality of NUPENG’s alleged levies. Professor Dayo Ayoade, an energy law specialist, questioned whether the union has overstepped its mandate.

“The job of a union is to assist its members and protect their jobs, but it doesn’t have a right to tax or collect fees for fuel loading. Is NUPENG now a tax-collecting agency? That is the question,” he argued.

Dangote’s allegations strike at the heart of Nigeria’s energy pricing structure. With pump prices already high due to foreign exchange pressures and logistics costs, any additional charges at the refinery level further worsen affordability for households and businesses. To forestall disruptions, Dangote Group has invested heavily in 4,000 CNG-powered trucks for petroleum product distribution nationwide.