Human rights lawyer, Femi Falana, SAN, has called on the Federal Government to immediately intervene in the brewing industrial dispute between the National Union of Petroleum and Gas Workers (NUPENG) and the Dangote Petroleum Refinery over alleged anti-labour practices.
NUPENG had on Sunday directed its members across the oil and gas industry to embark on an indefinite strike starting Monday, September 9, 2025. The strike, the union said, is in protest against a policy of the Dangote Group which requires newly recruited drivers to sign undertakings not to join any existing union in the sector.
Falana, in a statement issued under the banner of the Alliance on Surviving COVID-19 and Beyond (ASCAB), condemned the policy, describing it as unconstitutional and a gross violation of both local and international labour laws.
According to him, the move contravenes Section 40 of the 1999 Constitution, Section 12 of the Trade Union Act, and Article 10 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (Ratification and Enforcement) Act.
“The policy is also a breach of the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention 1948 (No. 87), the Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention 1949 (No. 98) of the International Labour Organisation, as well as the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international covenants ratified by Nigeria,” Falana stated.
He urged the Registrar of Trade Unions to call the Dangote Petroleum Refinery to order without delay, while also pressing the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) to check what he described as the monopolistic practices of the Dangote Group, which he said run contrary to the FCCPC Act of 2018.
“Even though powerful trade unions exist in all capitalist countries including the UK and the United States, the Dangote Group is determined to obliterate trade unions in Nigeria because it has been allowed to operate outside the ambit of the law,” he said.
Falana reminded the Dangote Group that the struggle for workers’ rights to unionise in Nigeria dates back to the colonial era and cannot be erased. He reaffirmed ASCAB’s full support for NUPENG’s strike action, insisting that attempts to erode workers’ rights will be strongly resisted.
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