Tanker drivers’ strike deepens as Dangote refinery insists fuel supply remains stable

The Dangote Refinery has assured Nigerians that the ongoing strike by the Petroleum Tanker Drivers (PTD) branch of the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) will not disrupt fuel supply across the country.

The strike, which commenced on Monday, has attracted support from labour organisations both locally and internationally. It stems from allegations that the refinery is hiring new drivers on the condition that they do not join a union – claims the company has strongly refuted.

“There is no fuel shortage; everything is going on,” Dangote Group spokesperson Anthony Chiejina told AFP on Tuesday, confirming that talks are ongoing between the union, the government, and the company to resolve the standoff.

Commissioned last year, the $20 billion Dangote Refinery, Africa’s largest, with a capacity of 650,000 barrels per day—has transformed Nigeria’s oil sector, reducing petrol prices and challenging entrenched players in a market plagued by decades of corruption and mismanagement of government-owned refineries.

Last month, the refinery announced plans to roll out thousands of compressed natural gas (CNG)-powered trucks for nationwide fuel distribution, but logistical delays have slowed the initiative. This plan threatens the dominance of over 20,000 diesel-powered tankers currently operating in the sector.

NUPENG alleges that Dangote is attempting to block unionisation among its new drivers. “What Dangote has shown over time is that he’s not prepared to have workers that will have a say in his employment,” union president Williams Akporeha told Arise News on Tuesday.

The industrial action has drawn solidarity from the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), global labour body IndustriALL, and the International Lawyers Assisting Workers (ILAW) network in Washington.

Chiejina dismissed the allegations as “cheap blackmail,” saying: “It’s not true. Nobody has done that and nobody ever has.”