The fragile truce between the Nigerian Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers and the $20bn Dangote Petroleum Refinery has collapsed, igniting a fierce industrial dispute that threatens fuel supply stability and tests the Federal Government’s ability to enforce labour agreements.
The confrontation follows allegations by NUPENG that the Dangote Group reneged on a Memorandum of Understanding signed earlier this week, under which the refinery agreed to allow tanker drivers and other workers to freely unionise.
On Thursday, NUPENG’s National President, Williams Akporeha, accused Sayyu Aliu Dantata, a cousin of Aliko Dangote and key player in the refinery’s trucking operations, of defying the resolution reached on September 9 at the Department of State Services headquarters in Abuja.