NUPENG suspends strike as NARD poises to join fray

By John Egie

The industrial action embarked on my the Nigerian Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers, NUPENG, across the country has been suspended.

The suspension was sequel to a meeting with officials of the Federal Government, NUPENG and the Dangote Group.

The strike which began on Monday, September 8, 2025 lasted till yesterday before it was suspended.

A truce meeting initially held on Monday yielded no result and the Minister of Labour on behalf of the FG summoned another meeting yesterday with more stakeholders in attendance.

The Tuesday meeting was attended by representatives of the Dangote Group led by Sayyu Dantata, officials of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, NMDPRA, among others.

At the end of the conciliatory meeting, management of Dangote Refinery and Petrochemicals agreed to the demand of NUPENG to allow their employees to be unionised by registered labour unions.

The Dangote Group said they were not averse to unionisation of their employees by labour unions in tandem with provisions of the extant labour laws.

At the meeting, the following resolutions were reached:

* Management of Dangote Refinery and Petrochemicals agreed to unionisation of employees who are willing to unionise

* The process of unionisation should commence immediately and be completed within two weeks (From September 9 to September 22, 2025) with the employer setting up no other union.

* No worker or employee of Dangote Refinery and Petrochemicals will be victimised

* The conflicting parties are to revert to the Minister of Labour after a week.

An MoU to these effects was written and signed by Dangote representative, Sayyu Dantata; NUPENG National Chairman and National Secretary, William Akporeha and Afolabi Olawale respectively; an official of NMDPRA, OK Ukoha; a director of the ministry of labour, Amos Falonipe and representatives of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC)

NARD poises to join fray

Meanwhile, the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) are poised to join the fray in industrial disharmony as the association holds its national executive council meeting today to determine its next line of action on a pending ultimatum to the FG.

NARD had earlier issued a 10-day ultimatum to relevant government agencies, warning that members would embark on a nationwide strike if their demands were not met.

Shortage of doctors, poor infrastructure and overcrowded hospitals make Nigeria public health system fragile and this fragility is further threatened with an impending industrial action should the outcome of today’s meeting decide so.

Resident doctors constitute majority of the medical workforce in teaching and specialist hospitals. They have repeatedly gone on strike in recent years over unpaid wages, poor welfare and inadequate working conditions.

Another shutdown would cripple health care delivery and force patients to seek expensive healthcare services from private healthcare providers.