The Nigerian government says it is optimistic about reaching a peaceful resolution in the ongoing impasse between oil workers and their employer, Dangote Group.
The Minister of Labour and Employment, Muhammad Dingyadi, gave the assurance in Abuja on Monday at the end of a tripartite meeting he convened to address the dispute.
Although the talks ended in a stalemate, the minister noted that progress was made and expressed hope that the grievances of the workers, as well as the concerns of the Dangote Group, would be resolved without major disruption to petroleum product supply in the country.
Oil workers under the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (NUPENG) in the Dangote Refinery had threatened to begin strike action from Monday, 8 September 2025, over the company’s refusal to allow unionisation of its staff.
Throwing light on the purpose of the meeting, the minister said:
“You are aware that the purpose of this meeting is to consolidate and see how we can negotiate a kind of peaceful settlement on the dispute that we have found out to be existing between our labour unions and the oil industry and the employers in the Dangote Group.
“The issue is that we have not been able to reach a final agreement on this matter because we had a stalemate, and we’re trying to resolve the issues, but it was getting late, and most of them were on their way to leave us this night. So, we had to call off the thing till tomorrow.
”Both parties have tried to listen to us, and they have tried to cooperate to the best of their ability, but you know, as negotiations are, there are always issues that people cannot agree on. But we believe that by tomorrow, we should be able to sort out these issues by the grace of God.
“I want to appeal to everybody to please try to maintain peace. By the grace of God, tomorrow we should be able to get both parties to agree on something that will ensure that the strike is called off,” Dingyadi said.
The Minister emphasised that the negotiation was crucial to national stability.
“The oil industry is not a sector that we play with, and it is very important for the economy of our country and for our people,” he added.
President of NUPENG, Comrade Williams Akporeha, accused the Dangote Group of seeking to monopolise both the petroleum sector and workers’ rights, describing the planned strike as an action in the interest of Nigerians.
“So it is unfortunate that at this point, we are having an investor whose main purpose is to say there cannot be a union in his establishment. He wants to monopolise the entire system and even monopolise workers,” Comrade Akporeha said.
Acting General Secretary of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Comrade Benson Upah, also confirmed that no agreement was reached due to what he called the uncompromising stance of Dangote Group’s representative.
“The representative of the Dangote Refinery walked out on the Minister and organised labour. Even when we bent backwards to accommodate his uncompromising behaviour, he still did what he had to do. So we were left with no option but to do the needful.
“It takes more than a party to resolve. So whenever the representative of the Dangote Petroleum Refinery sees the need for a meaningful dialogue, why not? We are ready,” Comrade Upah said.
As of Tuesday evening, 9 September 2025, another meeting had not yet been convened.