No going back on Monday strike – NUPENG
* Rejects Dangote-backed drivers’ association
The Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) has insisted it will go ahead with its nationwide strike on Monday, September 8, targeting petroleum depots, to protest Dangote Refinery’s refusal to allow its Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) truck drivers to join any trade union.
In a statement jointly signed by Williams Akporeha and Afolabi Olawale, president and general secretary of NUPENG, the union confirmed that its Petroleum Tanker Drivers (PTD) branch would withhold lifting of petroleum products across the country.
NUPENG also disowned claims by Barrister Enoch Kanawa, President of the Direct Trucking Company Drivers Association (DTCDA), which suggested that NUPENG could not speak for tanker drivers.
“We ask our members, members of the public, and independent media to disregard DTCDA and its statements,” the union said.
The union accused the DTCDA of being a creation of Dangote Refinery management, designed to prevent drivers from joining NUPENG, the only statutorily recognised union for petroleum tanker drivers. “Barrister Enoch Kanawa is a lawyer, not a tanker driver,” the statement said.
NUPENG further alleged that the Direct Trucking Company Limited was set up by Alhaji Sayyu Aliu Dantata and Alhaji Aliko Dangote to manage the 10,000 CNG trucks being imported. “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,” the union warned.
The statement provided a detailed account of Kanawa’s career, highlighting his former roles as Executive Secretary of the National Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO) and Legal Adviser to MRS Energy Limited, to underscore that DTCDA is management-inspired and not a grassroots union.
NUPENG reiterated that there is no division within its ranks and that its solidarity remains unbroken. “Ordinary Nigerians should neither encourage nor support slavish working conditions,” the union added.
The Monday strike is set to be a defining moment in the ongoing dispute between Dangote Refinery and NUPENG, reflecting broader tensions in Nigeria’s petroleum downstream sector over workers’ rights and union recognition.
(Daily Sun)
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