Following the truce brokered by the Department of State Services (DSS), National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), on Tuesday, September 9, 2025, called off its nationwide industrial action.
The development followed a meeting that was convened in Abuja by the DSS during which it successfully brokered a truce between the officials of the federal government, stakeholders in the oil industry that included representatives of Dangote Refinery and the organised labour.
The meeting which took place in one of the conference rooms at the DSS headquarters in Abuja was attended by officials of the Secret Service, the Minister of Finance, Wale Edun; Minister of Labour and Employment, Mohammed Dingyadi; Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Nkeiruka Onyejeocha; the Dangote Refinery team, led by Sayyu Dantata, labour leaders, including Benson Upah of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Nuhu Toro of Trade Union Congress (TUC) and NUPENG’s Williams Akporeha.
After hours of deliberation, the negotiation parties agreed and resolved to uphold existing labour laws, with an understanding that employees must not be compelled to join any union just as the meeting also agreed to retain the freedom to either affiliate with or decline membership of any labour body.
In clear terms, the meeting agreed to the unionisation of only employees of Dangote Refinery and Petrochemicals, who were willing to do so.
Expectedly, the resolution led to the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) by all stakeholders present which led the immediate suspension of the strike by NUPENG.
A communique jointly signed by Assistant General Secretary of NLC, Upah, and General Secretary of TUC, Toro, on behalf of NUPENG and organised labour, and Dantata, who represented Dangote Refinery, emphasised that Dangote as the employer would not set up any other union.
The communique stated, “Following the threat to embark on industrial action by the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) over the following points in dispute: Refusal of the management of Dangote Refinery and Petrochemical Limited to allow their employees to be unionised by registered labour unions.
“A conciliation meeting was held at the instance of the Honourable Minister of Labour and Employment and it was revealed in the course of the meeting that: the management agreed with this fact and responded that they are not averse to the unionisation of their employees.
“After exhaustive deliberations, the following resolutions were reached by both parties:
“That since workers’ unionisation is a right in line with the provisions of the extant laws, the management of Dangote Refinery and Petrochemicals agreed to the unionisation of employees of Dangote Refinery and unionisation of employees of Petrochemicals, who are willing to unionise.
“That the process of unionisation shall commence immediately and be completed within two weeks (9-22 September, 2025), and it was agreed that the employer cannot set up any other union,” it stated.
The MoU of the meeting also stated that arising from the strike notice, no worker or employee of Dangote Refinery and Petrochemicals will be victimised.
The MoU also stated that parties will revert to the Minister of Labour a week after the conclusion of the engagement.
