Dangote, marketers fight for control of downstream petroleum sector 

• TDA, NUPENG, PENGASAN, NAN, others take side in proxy war

The soft war between Dangote Refinery and petroleum products marketers for the control of Nigeria’s downstream petroleum sector last  week snowballed into a vicious confrontation with the strike action by the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas (NUPENG) — as warring parties are deploying all weapons in their armouries to undo each other, Business Hallmark can report.

The war, which began as a muted confrontation with occasional public outbursts and counter allegations of deliberate sabotage and monopolistic tendencies between the two parties, has morphed into an all out war.

Aside from trying to undermine each other through price wars and boycott of products, the feuding parties are now employing proxies to fight their battles, BH findings have revealed.

It would be recalled that the coming on board of the 650,000 barrels per day Dangote Petroleum Refinery in the Ibeju-Lekki area of Lagos in January 2024 had sent ripples through Nigeria’s downstream petroleum sector.

Apart from leaving fuel importers in a precarious position, the gigantic refinery is also challenging Europe’s long-standing dominance in supplying petroleum products to Africa’s largest country.

For instance, the Dangote Refinery has reduced the price of petrol and diesel more than five times, thus helping to crash the prices of the products from a high of N1,300 and N1,800 for PMS (fuel) and AGO (diesel) respectively in December 2024 to the current rates of about N900 (petrol) and N1,050 (diesel).

In June 2025, the Chief Executive Officer of Dangote Industries Limited (DIL),

Last Straw

Alhaji Aliko Dangote, announced that the refinery will commence the direct supply of petroleum products nationwide with free delivery effective August 15, 2025.

The scheme, a N720 billion investment program meant to streamline fuel supply and strengthen distribution networks in participating states, will see 4,000 CNG-powered trucks distribute 65 million litres of refined petroleum products daily.

Initially delayed due to logistics bottlenecks in China, the free distribution scheme will now commence on Monday, September 15, 2025.

While the free fuel distribution program is projected to save Nigeria approximately N1.7 trillion annually in fuel distribution costs, which also impacts on higher pump price, it will also earn the nation about $10 billion in foreign exchange annually.

However, the continued operation of Dangote Refinery is turning into a major setback for fuel marketers, especially those who rely on importation.

Many marketers, who had relied on importing cheaper but dirty fuel from Europe for years, are now struggling to remain in the market as Dangote spreads his tentacles across the country.

Alluding to the impact of Dangote Refinery on its business in the first half of 2025, Nigerian energy group, Oando Plc, said it recorded zero petrol cargo sales in the first six months of the year.

According to the company, seven petrol cargoes were traded in the same period of 2024, a situation it blamed on the continued supply of fuel into the domestic market by Dangote Refinery.

“Our trading segment faced headwinds, which exerted pressure on the entity’s revenue and the group’s topline as a result of declining PMS imports into the country due to rising local refining capacity from the Dangote Refinery, a positive development that enhances Nigeria’s energy security and self-sufficiency,” said Oando’s Group Chief Executive, Wale Tinubu, way back in August.

Dangote’s Refinery’s ramping up of production, now at 610,000, according to multiple energy intelligence platforms, has significantly distorted the nation’s refined petroleum products market as fuel importers contending with higher costs associated with foreign exchange fluctuations, shipping, high insurance, and international market prices are finding it difficult to survive.

Prevailing Harsh Condition

BH checks showed that over 80 percent of the 105 fuel depots and tank farms across the country have either shut down or become dormant.

Meanwhile, while the end users are benefiting from the intense competition between Dangote Refinery and fuel marketers, the two groups are fully engaged in a war of attrition, which has now grown into a proxy war.

Available information indicate that the dispute has caused huge division within the nation, as the feuding parties engaged proxies to help fight their causes.

On Monday, September 9, 2025, members of the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas (NUPENG) embarked on strike to protest the planned deployment of 4,000 compressed natural gas (CNG)-powered trucks for direct fuel distribution by Dangote Refinery, and the alleged refusal of the refinery management to allow its employees to be unionized.

According to NUPENG, the fuel distribution initiative will by-pass existing tanker drivers, threaten thousands of jobs, and violate the right of workers to unionize. The union insisted that no oil worker will work with the Dangote Group without being unionized.

The industrial action caused fuel supply disruptions in different parts of the country, particularly the South South region.

After the intervention of the Federal Government in the matter to prevent the breakdown of law and order, and ensure energy security, the strike was called off on Wednesday, September 10.

The agreed truce was, however, short-lived, when the peace agreement broke down almost immediately, leading to NUPENG members using their trucks to block the entrance of Dangote Refinery in an attempt to prevent the plant from loading.

Tactical  Conspiracy

According to NUPENG, it was forced to halt loading of fuel at Dangote Refinery’s loading bay following the company’s directive to its drivers to remove all the union stickers pasted on their trucks a day earlier.

“This is to alert the general public and the government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria that notwithstanding the resolution reached and signed at the office of the DSS with three ministers of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Deputy Director-General of the DSS in attendance on the right of unionization of the workers, Alhaji Sayyu Aliu Dantata on Wednesday, 10th September, 2025 instructed all his Truck Drivers, who are NUPENG-PTD members for several years, to remove the union stickers from their trucks yesterday.

“Today, Thursday, 11th September, 2025, he instructed them to forcefully drive into Dangote Refinery to load and Union officials stopped them from entering the Refinery to load because their trucks violated union loading rules and regulations.

“Alhaji Sayyu Aliu Dantata flew over them several times with his helicopter and then called the Navy of the Federal Republic to come over, ostensibly to crush the Union officials.

“Our members are waiting for him and his agents to run them over. We call on everyone to let Alhaji Sayyu Aliu Dantata know that he is not bigger than the Federal Republic of Nigeria and we strongly condemn his arrogant attitude towards official institutions of this great country, and blatant lack of respect for the laws of this country.

“We call on the Federal Government not to allow the Navy and other security agents being paid with the resources of this country to be used with impunity against the laws and people of this country,” the association’s President, Williams Akporeha, stated.

Business Hallmark reliably gathered that while the fears of the union members are genuine and legitimate, external forces working behind the scene, are fueling the crisis for their own selfish reasons.

Several sources within and outside NUPENG informed our correspondent that a huge sum of money was released to the union leaders in several tranches as mobilization grant.

“Yes, I can confirm that we (NUPENG) are having help and support from outside. While this sympathizers might be doing it for their own selfish interests, we can’t reject their support because it will go a long way to protect our own jobs,” a member of NUPENG-PTD, who did not want his identity revealed informed our correspondent.

While the source failed to reveal the identity of the union’s backers, our correspondent learnt that the funds were ‘donated’ by troubled fuel marketers desperate to slow down Dangote Refinery’s progress.

Apart from NUPENG, BH gathered that the marketers have been able to conscript other Labour unions like the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) and the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASAN) into the planned offensive.

Strategic Interests

However, like fuel marketers, Dangote Refinery’s have foot soldiers fighting it cause. One of the pro-Dangote group is the Petroleum Tanker Drivers (PTD), an affiliate of NUPENG.

The leadership of the PTD, while distancing itself from the strike called last week by the NUPENG leadership, lambasted the body for its lack of coordination and wisdom to peacefully mitigate the cold war between it and the management of Dangote refinery.

The tanker drivers called for the arrest of NUPENG leaders to prevent them from molesting  Nigerians, who want to embark on their daily and legitimate businesses.

Some members of the PTD operating from the Dangote Refinery, who spoke to our correspondent at the weekend, disclosed that they are better off with Dangote than aligning with the employers association of the petroleum tanker drivers, the National Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO) and NUPENG.

“So, NARTO and NUPENG are just realizing that we are important? Our employers, who are NARTO members, have not been treating us well. Can you believe that some of our colleagues still collect below N100,000 monthly salary, unlike at Dangote, where drivers under his graduate drivers scheme earn over N500,000 monthly, and the opportunity of owning the trailers after driving them for some time?

“And they want us to abandon this for what? That’s why you see us  removing NUPENG stickers from our trucks,” a PTD member stated.

Several Nigerian groups and individuals are also picking up gauntlets to fight for Dangote. One of such groups is the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS).

In a statement signed by NAN’s Senate President, Usman Adamu Nagwaza, the union raised the alarm over intelligence reports alleging a plot to attack Dangote Refinery’s newly acquired CNG trucks.

“While we respect the right of workers to organize and protect their interests, joining any union remains a matter of free will, not coercion.

“Threats of a national shutdown because of union disputes are unacceptable and dangerous for a nation still recovering from economic shocks.

“Credible security reports suggest that certain oil cartels, long known for profiting from fuel subsidy scams and cross-border smuggling, are now scheming to burn, or destroy Dangote’s CNG-powered trucks.

“This is a direct attack not just on a private entity, but on the future of Nigeria’s energy independence.

“The refinery is not just a business — it is a knowledge hub and an opportunity center for thousands of Nigerian graduates.

“We will not sit idle while selfish interests seek to destroy what has already become a national asset,” the students body threatened.

It also called on the National Security Adviser and relevant security agencies to urgently secure all critical infrastructure linked to fuel production and distribution in the country.

Reacting, an energy and market economy analyst, Dan Kunle, faulted NUPENG’s industrial action against Dangote. According to him, a free market economy is an open market.

“Free entry free exit. Nigeria must not accept these threats to persist. Investment at a certain scale normally distorts the small-scale operators, who lack capital to scale up.

“Unionism is a voluntary association.  There is no compulsion. The Registrar of Trade Unions has the right to register such an association, and members are free to join or leave.

“The new association can be an affiliate of NUPENG. NUPENG is simply afraid of losing its members that, in turn, waters down their capacity for disruption. It is a case of an anticipated balance of terror.

“A company with more than 10000 trucks is being perceived as a threat to membership growth.  Check-off dues automatically go down, influence, and prestige wane.

“The choke-hold they used to have on the nation in terms of strikes will go down the hill. For them, this new development ends their lethal hold on the poor masses,” Kunle said.