22nd September 2025
President of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, has accused the Nigerian Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas, NUPENG, Workers of collecting as much as N50,000 on every truck that loads fuel at the refinery, noting that such charges invariably push up pump prices of fuel.
Although NUPENG is yet to either confirmed or denied the allegation, industry experts on Sunday wondered how the oil union became a tax collector and corroborated that such actions would certainly raise the pump prices petroleum products.
Dangote who said the union’s levies are unsustainable, revealed this to newsmen while responding to NUPENG’s accusations that his company is preventing drivers of its newly deployed 4,000 Compressed Natural Gas-powered trucks from joining the union.
“I am saying that there are several charges here, where if a truck is going to load, NUPENG has been collecting about N50,000 or N48,000 on each truck. By the time everybody collects their own, you are talking about N80,000 to N84,000. So, who pays for that cost? The consumer actually pays,” he declared.
READ MORE; Dangote Refinery, DAPPMAN Faceoff Over Demand For N1.5 Trillion Annual Subsidy To Match Depot Prices
Describing such charges as acts of rent-seeking that discourage efficiency in the sector. The president of Dangote group, said the company has learned from its past experiences as a fuel importer, when transporters allegedly held the Group “by the neck,” which compelled him to establish an in-house fleet under his brother’s management.
“Now that we have launched our own CNG trucks, we will not allow any group to hold us hostage. If there is no evacuation, there is nothing we can do,” he stressed.
Dangote further reiterated that no driver or worker should be compelled to join a union, insisting that the constitution and labour laws make union membership voluntary. “If anybody wants to join the union, even our own workers, we say, ‘Fine, go and join.’ But it must be voluntary. Even religion is voluntary—you cannot force anyone to convert,” he said.
READ MORE; Dangote Refinery Assures Of Fuel Availability Despite Truckers Strike.
When the NUPENG President, Williams Akporeha, was contacted for comments, he neither confirmed nor denied the allegation of N50,000 charges. Instead, he responded cryptically: “N50k (N50,000) now? No more N1 per litre?”
In an earlier response to viral claims that the union imposed ₦1 per litre charges, Akporeha had maintained: “One can’t stop people from having their opinion. Ask who alleges to provide proof.”
The controversy comes after NUPENG shut down depots recently and briefly blockaded the Dangote refinery over disputes surrounding drivers’ unionisation.
The Federal Government intervened, brokering a memorandum of understanding between the parties. However, tensions remain high despite an industrial court order in Abuja barring NUPENG from further blockades.
