No going back on Monday’s strike – NUPENG vows
yarkarkara
Ahead of of its planned strike slated to begin, Monday, the national secretariat of the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers, NUPENG, said there is no going back on the industrial action.
The Monday strike is in protest against the stance of the management of Dangote Refinery not allowing drivers of its imported Compressed Natural Gas, CNG, trucks to join any trade union.
In a joint statement signed by Williams Akporeha and Afolabi, President and General Secretary, on Sunday, NUPENG maintained that the Petroleum Tanker Drivers Branch of its Union would refrain from lifting of petroleum products from depots nationwide.
The NUPENG also disowned statement attributed to Enoch Kanawa, President of Direct Trucking Company Drivers Association (DTCDA) which claimed that NUPENG could not speak for members of Petroleum Tanker Drivers.
Kanawa had urged Nigerians to disregard the planned industrial action.
Giving clarification on the birth and forces behind the DTCDA, the leadership of NUPENG declared that the Kanawa led DTCDA was a creation of management of Dangote Refinery, which has vowed not to allow its recruited truck drivers “join NUPENG which is the only statutorily recognized union authorized to unionize Petroleum Tanker Drivers.”
The statement which declared that Enoch Kanawa, is a lawyer, not a tanker driver, maintained that there is no division in the ranks of NUPENG or its PTD Branch.
It further alleged that the Direct Trucking Company Limited is the recruiting company that was formed by Alhaji Sayyu Aliu Dantata and Alhaji Aliko Dangote for the 10,000 CNG Trucks they are importing.
NUPENG vowed that it would not surrender to what it called slavish conditions being promoted by the Dangote Refinery in the oil industry.
The statement read in part:”The attention of the leadership of the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) has been drawn to a news report on ARISE Television on Saturday night 6th September, 2025 and in some daily newspapers of some unidentified persons and group of people calling themselves Direct Trucking Company Drivers Association (DTCDA) asking Nigerians to disregard our alert on the withdrawal of services by Petroleum Tanker Drivers Branch of NUPENG.
“We ask our members, members of the public and independent minded objective segments of the media to disregard (DTCDA) and its statements.
“For the information of the public, the DTCDA is the Association which Dangote Group of Companies has formed for the drivers to join compulsorily rather than allowing drivers to join NUPENG which is the only statutorily recognized union authorized to unionize Petroleum Tanker Drivers.
“The signatory to the statement of DTCDA, one Enoch Kanawa, is a lawyer, not a tanker driver.
“Barrister Enoch Kanawa signed the Statement as President of DTCDA. The media should ask Kanawa when DTCDA was formed and when his election as President took place.
“As a matter of fact, Barrister Kanawa was formerly the Executive Secretary of National Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO) from 2001 to 2012, left NARTO to become Legal Adviser to MRS Energy Limited of Alhaji Sayyu Aliu Dantata and in 2019 came back to contest for the position of the President of National Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO) under the sponsorship of Alhaji Sayyu Aliu Dantata but was defeated by Alh Yusuf Othman, the current President of NARTO.
“These facts are to show without doubt and beyond controversy that the DTCDA is a management-inspired Association and the news was created by the agents of Alhaji Sayyu Aliu Dantata to create confusion and misinformation, there is no division in our ranks and file, our Solidarity remains Constant!
“DTCDA is the association formed by Alhaji Sayyu Aliu Dantata, the owner of MRS. The Direct Trucking Company Limited is the recruiting company that was formed by him and Alhaji Aliko Dangote for the 10,000 CNG Trucks they are importing.
“DTCDA was originally meant to be Dangote Transport Company. Its registered office is at 2, Tincan Island Port Road, Apapa, Lagos.
“The address of DTCDA is the same official address of MRS Energy Limited.
“We want the general public to know that Alhaji Sayyu Aliu Dantata is the founder and Funder of Direct Trucking Company Drivers Association (DTCDA) and he is housing this Association in his official company headquarters.
“Slavery ended centuries ago but some unscrupulous Capitalists are making efforts to bring it back. Any worker who cannot exercise the right of association is no better than a slave.
“Ordinary Nigerians should neither encourage nor support slavish working conditions.”
