The crisis within the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) has taken a new dimension as leaders of Lagos Zone of Petroleum Tanker Drivers Branch of the union praised Dangote Refinery for revitalising the country’s petroleum downstream sector and enhancing the lives of Nigerians through its various initiatives in line with President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda.
PTD also passed a vote of no confidence on the National President, Comrade (Prince) Williams Akporeha, and the General Secretary, Comrade Afolabi Olawale accusing them of greed, rascality, impunity, manipulation, highhandedness, and gross incompetence in leadership.
The decision stemmed from an emergency meeting held by the State’s zonal executives of PTD on Monday, September 8, 2025 following a rising tension over Dangote Refinery and MRS Holdings Limited’s alleged resistance against unionisation and deployment of 4,000 Compressed Natural Gas (CNG)-powered trucks across Nigeria for the nationwide distribution of petroleum products.
In a statement released by the spokesperson of Lagos Zone of PTD, Comrade Oluwatosin Adeyeye, the union said it was fully in support of Dangote’s intervention in the country’s petroleum sector.
The oil workers noted that Dangote’s refinery’s new logistics model, unveiled in June, 2025 was poised to reshape Nigeria’s downstream sector and it would be beneficial to marketers and other industry players as well as the citizenry.
The tanker drivers also accused the leadership of NUPENG of being reckless and showing lack of wisdom in managing the resources of the Union and that their inability to resolve minor internal wranglings have destroyed the image of the union and made the livelihoods of the members to get worse.
The oil union however appealed to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, industry regulators, National Assembly and security agents to stop NUPENG from inflicting further hardship on Nigerians and tanker drivers.
Below is the full PRESS RELEASE:VOTE OF NO CONFIDENCE ON THE NATIONAL LEADERSHIP OF NUPENG.
Gentlemen of the media, fellow citizens of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, good day. We the bonafide members of the Petroleum Tanker Drivers (PTD) Branch of the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) LAGOS ZONE by this Press Release, on Monday, 8th September 2025, pass a vote of no confidence on the national leadership of NUPENG headed by Comrade Williams Akporeha, and Mr Afolabi Olawale as regards to the conflict between The Dangote Refinery and NUPENG.
We are 100% in support of Dangote Refinery’s good gesture of improved working conditions and better welfare packages towards our drivers.Dangote Refinery did not import Petroleum Tanker Drivers, he only imported CNG Trucks, and the Tanker Drivers being recruited by Dangote Refinery are majority of the remnants of our members who have suffered extreme neglect, manipulations, and untimely deaths as a result of NUPENG’S greed, rascality, impunity, high handedness, and gross incompetence in leadership.
The motive behind this call for industrial action by NUPENG is greed, not the welfare of the members. The NUPENG President and General Secretary are not Petroleum Tanker Drivers by profession. They don’t own a single truck. Over the years they have displayed recklessness and lack of wisdom in managing the resources of the Union and inability to resolve minor internal issues and these wranglings have now escalated, resulting in a greater percentage of the members of the PTD Branch which is the goose that lays the golden egg, currently live in abject poverty amidst abundance, and there are multiple court cases between NUPENG leadership and aggrieved members of the Union.Our members have therefore resolved to both distance and disassociate ourselves from the planned industrial action by NUPENG.
We use this medium to call on the President and commander in chief of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Ahmed Bola Tinubu GCFR, the security agencies, the Senate, the House of Representatives, and all well meaning Nigerians to call NUPENG leadership to order, and to avoid imposing untold hardships on innocent citizens of our beloved country.God bless our great Union.God bless Dangote Refinery.God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
I am Comrade Oluwatosin Adeyeye, for PTD Branch of NUPENG Lagos Zone.Thank you.