On the bustling highways of Nigeria, a silent army of petroleum tanker drivers forms the nation’s vital circulatory system, transporting the lifeblood of the economy from refinery to retail. These drivers, organized under the Petroleum and Tanker Drivers (PTD) branch of the Nigerian Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), now face an existential threat that they describe not merely as a business decision, but as a direct assault on their survival.
The source of this looming crisis is the ambitious plan by Dangote Refinery to deploy a massive fleet of 10,000 Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) tankers for the nationwide distribution of petroleum products. NUPENG has erupted in fierce opposition, branding this move a brazen monopolization of the Nigerian petroleum sector and a deeply anti-labour action that jeopardizes the livelihoods of countless families.
The union’s condemnation is rooted in more than just economic competition; it strikes at the very heart of workers’ rights.
The tanker drivers have raised a grave alarm over reports that the drivers recruited by Dangote Refinery to operate these new CNG tankers will be prohibited from joining any trade union.
This policy, they argue, is a flagrant affront to the provisions of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria and a violation of international labour laws that guarantee the right to association. It represents a dangerous precedent, one that could undermine decades of labour advocacy and strip workers of their collective voice.
For NUPENG, this is not just a business dispute—it is a battle for the soul of the Nigerian labour force.
Anonymous drivers, speaking with journalists, have voiced their fears with a palpable sense of urgency. They warn that if the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority does not intervene immediately, the situation could escalate into a severe threat to the national economy.
The ripple effects, they caution, will extend far beyond the drivers themselves, triggering a catastrophic chain reaction of economic collapse. The drivers have meticulously outlined the looming dangers: the majority of tanker owners will be rendered jobless, and the countless drivers, motor boys, and their families who depend on this occupation will lose their primary source of income. But the impact does not stop there.
The ecosystem of ancillary industries—truck mechanics, painters, welders, tank fabricators, and dealers in tires, batteries, and spare parts—will see their businesses evaporate, affecting countless dependents. Depot representatives, artisans, and food vendors who rely on the daily flow of transport activity will also face ruin.
Perhaps most devastatingly, transporters who have invested heavily in the sector, often through loans from financial institutions, will be pushed into bankruptcy. The collective result, as the drivers starkly warn, will be the loss of millions of jobs, leading to a dramatic rise in social insecurity, poverty, and unemployment.
This is not merely an industrial dispute; it is a potential national crisis in the making, one that demands urgent and thoughtful resolution to prevent the very fabric of the Nigerian economy from unraveling.
