The Federal Government has appealed to the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers to shelve its planned nationwide strike slated for Monday, pledging to intervene in the union’s face-off with the Dangote Refinery.

NUPENG, in a statement jointly signed by its President, Williams Akporeha, and General Secretary, Olawale Afolabi, said its Petroleum Tanker Drivers branch would suspend lifting petroleum products across the country.

The union is protesting Dangote Refinery’s refusal to allow drivers of its newly imported Compressed Natural Gas trucks to join any trade union, as well as the alleged threat the massive importation of the trucks poses to the jobs of its members.

However, NUPENG distanced itself from a statement credited to the President of the Direct Trucking Company Drivers Association, Enoch Kanawa, who had argued that the union lacked the authority to represent petroleum tanker drivers and urged Nigerians to ignore the strike notice.

Meanwhile,
NUPENG’s leadership alleged that the Kanawa-led DTCDA was a creation of the Dangote Refinery, which has barred its recruited drivers from joining the union.

It insisted that NUPENG remains the only statutorily recognised body authorised to unionise petroleum tanker drivers.

The union further vowed not to yield to what it described as “slavish conditions” being imposed by the refinery on the oil and gas industry.

“We ask our members, members of the public and independent minded objective segments of the media to disregard (DTCDA) and its statements…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,” NUPENG stated.

However, the federal government in a statement issued on Sunday by its Head of Information and Public Relations, Patience Onuobia, the Ministry of Labour and Employment said Minister Muhammad Dingyadi had called on the union to embrace dialogue in resolving the dispute.

The statement added that the minister also appealed to the Nigeria Labour Congress to withdraw the red alert it had issued to affiliate unions to prepare for a solidarity strike.

Dingyadi stressed that, with the ministry already intervening, labour should suspend plans to shut down the petroleum industry in order to preserve peace in the nation’s highly strategic oil and gas sector.

“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. I also appeal to the NLC to withdraw the red alert it issued to its affiliate unions to be on standby for a nationwide strike in solidarity with NUPENG.

“The petroleum sector is very important to this country. It constitutes the core of the country’s economy. A strike in the petroleum sector, even for just a day, will have an adverse consequential impact on the economy. It will not only lead to heavy revenue losses by the country, running into billions of Naira, but also cause untold hardship and difficulties for Nigerians.

“Hence, I plead with the unions to give peace a chance. I assure them that this matter will be resolved amicably to the satisfaction of all the parties involved,” Dingyadi stated.

The minister further assured Nigerians that the dispute would be resolved amicably to prevent any disruption in the petroleum sector, which he described as critical to the nation’s economy.