Nigeria is bracing for imminent fuel shortage as the Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria (PETROAN) and the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) prepare to close shop over disagreements with the Dangote Refinery.
NUPENG said its Petroleum Tanker Drivers Branch will begin a nationwide suspension of fuel distribution on Monday due to the refusal of the refinery to grant Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) truck drivers the right to unionise. The union blamed the Dangote Group for promoting “slavish conditions” and establishing a competing drivers’ association (DTCDA) in order to circumvent labour rights.
In solidarity, PETROAN declared a three-day suspension of lifting and dispensing petroleum products from Tuesday, September 9, 2025. Its president, Dr. Billy Gillis-Harry, warned that Dangote’s monopolistic business practices could cripple private depot owners, modular refineries, marketers, and transporters—bringing about mass unemployment and economic instability, as in past experiences with Nigeria’s cement industry.
The associations called for the immediate intervention of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and regulators to prevent citizens’ suffering. PETROAN also instructed owners of stations not to lay off workers during the strike and deployed a 120-man watchdog team to protect facilities.
Meanwhile, the federal government, spurred by the looming disruption, intervened. Minister of Labour and Employment, Muhammad Maigari Dingyadi, summoned the stakeholders to a conciliation meeting in Abuja on an emergency basis. He urged NUPENG to cancel its strike action and also appealed to the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) to suspend its solidarity “red alert.”
Dingyadi warned that the shutdown of the petroleum sector would cause severe economic hardship and loss and asserted that government is committed to negotiating a fair deal.
