NUPENG Vs Dangote Refinery: Is FG Brokered Agreement Worth Anything?

BY EGUONO ODJEGBA

It is no longer news that the agrrement reached between the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) and the Dangote Refinery on Tuesday, may have irretrievably broken down. This is going by the alarm raised in a release by NUPENG President, Comrade Akporeha Williams and the General Secretary, Comrade Afolabi Olawale that Dangote Refinery has voided the agreement by engaging in counter actions inimical to the mutual resolution reached during the dialogue  on Tuesday.

Discerning minds were not oblivious of the tale telling signs that the industrial truce supposedly anchored on a well articulated Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between both parties and the Nigerian government was not only shaky but evidently shifty.

Irrespective of the history of agreement breakdowns, the real tragedy in the present scenario is the preponderance of relevant state organs in the parley; which gave the dialogue and agreements valve and vitality.

That such high level agreement failed and got thwarted less than 48 hours is both a reflection of the growing notoriety steadily creeping into labour and industrial relationship, our propensity for collective dishonesty and by far the worst, the sad unreliability of our governance system.

Let us take another look at what was agreed. On September 9, 2025, a peace deal was brokered by the Ministry of Labour and Employment, with the Department of State Seducurity (DSS) in addition to three federal ministers, and representatives from NUPENG and Dangote Refinery in attendance.

The resolution affirmed the following: Workers at Dangote Refinery have the right to unionize; Unionization would proceed voluntarily, without coercion; and Dangote Refinery agreed not to set up a rival union.

By afternoon of Thursday, today, NUPENG claimed that Sayyu Dantata, representing Dangote Refinery, instructed truck drivers to remove union stickers from their vehicles. According to NUPENG, tanker drivers were allegedly forced to enter the refinery in violation of union loading protocols, and when union officials intervened, Dantata allegedly called in the Navy to intimidate them.

From the sad development, the pertinent million-naira question is, who is misleading Nigerians? If NUPENG’s claims are accurate, then Dangote Refinery may have reneged on the agreement just 48 hours after signing it. If on the other hand Dangote’s side insists they’re respecting the deal, shall we say that NUPENG’s alert is a strategic escalation—possibly to pressure compliance or rally public sympathy?

The one is as unthinkable as the other. But here’s the kicker: both sides signed a Memorandum of Understanding, and any deviation should be addressed through legal and institutional channels, not helicopter flyovers or strike threats.

Nigerians demand transparency and to curtail further abuse of process, the signed MoU should be made public. That way, accountability is guaranteed and if either party violated the agreement any further, consequences should follow.

It will be recalled that Dangote had reportedly kept mute after the said agreement, clearly signaling something untoward. Unionization is a constitutional right, not a privilege.

Thus, this is not just about NUPENG or Dangote but it is about whether agreements brokered by the Nigerian government mean anything. And if they don’t, then, someone is messing with the system and playing with the intelligence of Nigerians.