Nigeria’s oil and gas sector has been thrown into fresh controversy as the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) and a newly created body, the Direct Trucking Company Drivers Association (DTCDA), trade accusations over the control and unionization of tanker drivers.
The crisis deepened after the Direct Trucking Company Limited, in a letter dated September 30, 2025, informed NUPENG that its truck drivers had formally withdrawn their membership from the union. The letter, signed by Olusogo Basola, Director of the company, stated that the drivers had personally written and signed letters rejecting NUPENG membership. The company insisted that henceforth, all dues and entitlements meant for the drivers would be paid directly into their personal accounts.
This development comes just weeks after NUPENG raised alarm, accusing Alhaji Sayyu Aliu Dantata, Chairman of MRS Energy Limited and cousin to Alhaji Aliko Dangote, of creating and funding the DTCDA as a management-inspired association to weaken the Petroleum Tanker Drivers Branch of NUPENG. The union insisted that the move was part of a larger agenda to strip drivers of their rights and force them into what it described as “modern slavery.”
NUPENG, in a statement signed by its National Executive President, Comrade (Prince) Williams Akporeha, and General Secretary, Comrade Afolabi Olawale, dismissed DTCDA as illegitimate and accused its leadership of being tools of corporate interests. The union particularly pointed to Barrister Enoch Kanawa, who signed statements on behalf of DTCDA, stressing that he is a lawyer, not a tanker driver, and has longstanding ties with Dantata and MRS Energy Limited.
According to NUPENG, DTCDA was originally designed as Dangote Transport Company and shares the same registered office address as MRS Energy Limited in Apapa, Lagos. The union argued that the group was created to compel drivers into joining, thereby undermining NUPENG, which remains the only legally recognized body authorized to unionize tanker drivers in Nigeria.
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“The formation of this so-called association is nothing but an attempt to enslave workers under corporate control,” NUPENG declared. “Any worker who cannot exercise the right of association is no better than a slave.”
The clash between the two sides is raising fears of a potential disruption in petroleum product distribution nationwide. While NUPENG has vowed to resist what it describes as a capitalist plot to suppress workers’ rights, the Direct Trucking Company Limited insists that its drivers have voluntarily opted out of NUPENG and are entitled to direct dealings with the company.
As both parties dig in, Nigerians are left to wonder whether the fight is about workers’ rights or a power struggle between one of the country’s most powerful unions and a corporate empire tied to the Dangote dynasty.
