They arrived before sunrise — station managers, anxious commuters with jerrycans, and a handful of dealers staring at empty forecourts. The sound that should have steadied the morning — the dull, metallic thunk of tanker hoses coupling to depot valves — was missing.
Tanker drivers, by order of their union, were not loading at Dangote depots. The reason: a directive from the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) telling its Petroleum Tanker Drivers (PTD) arm to stop loading petroleum products from Dangote-owned depots starting Monday.
The scene repeated across refilling points near the Lagos corridor and beyond: queues grew, tempers flared, and a familiar dread — fuel scarcity — crept into the national conversation.
This isn’t a strike born of ideology. It’s a fight over distribution control, job security, and a multi-billion-dollar refinery reshaping how petrol gets from plant to pump. If left unresolved, analysts warn, the result will be empty stations, skyrocketing black-market prices, and interrupted services that depend on diesel — from hospital generators to telecom towers.
The Order
NUPENG’s directive, confirmed in multiple reports and reflected in statements from transport associations — told petroleum tanker drivers to halt loading at Dangote depots pending resolution of outstanding grievances.
The union points to distribution practices tied to Dangote’s direct-to-marketer push, programming disputes around truck call-up systems, and fears that a tighter, centralized distribution model will marginalize independent drivers and small marketers who have long dominated downstream logistics.
This is not the first eruption. Over the past months, NARTO (the National Association of Road Transport Owners) and other transport bodies have staged similar suspensions over e-call-up fees, programming and access to the Lekki corridor — flashpoints in a larger battle between legacy transport networks and a refinery that wants to control its own supply chain. Those past stoppages showed how fragile Nigeria’s distribution web is when a big node — in this case Dangote’s depots — gets cut off.
Why The Refinery Matters
Dangote’s refinery is not a small player. Africa’s largest single-train plant changed the rules of the game: it promised domestic supply, export revenue and disruption of an import-dependent market.
But with scale comes power, and with power comes friction. Dangote’s plan to use dedicated CNG truck fleets and tighter programming for scheduling has alarmed tanker drivers who fear job losses and fewer loads. The dispute is therefore both economic and existential for thousands of transport workers.
If tankers refuse to load, distribution grinds. Ministerial or regulator fixes, short of hauling federal fleets or tapping strategic reserves, take time.
The practical consequence: within 24–48 hours of a full loading halt, many urban and peri-urban pumps could begin to run dry; within a few days, the pain spreads to hospitals that run on diesel, to food markets, and to the telecom networks already warning of service disruptions if diesel supplies stop. Telecoms and utility bodies have already flagged the risk publicly.
The Politics Behind The Pumps
Here’s the uncomfortable conversation no official likes on camera: is this a protectionist move to guard livelihoods — or a rent battle between a private giant and hundreds of middlemen who built the post-refinery logistics ecosystem? Both narratives have truth.
For drivers and small marketers, the refinery’s distribution model looks like a threat to income. For the refinery and its partners, streamlined logistics mean efficiency and lower long-term prices.
Politicians, regulators and union leaders are suddenly actors in a drama where every decision has immediate human consequences.
There’s also a darker possibility: industrial conflit can be weaponised by vested interests to extract fees, privileges, or protection. We cannot say that is happening here without evidence, but the pattern of sudden loading suspensions tied to negotiations is an old playbook in the transport sector.
The moral question for government is blunt: will it side with a single refinery’s efficiency or with tens of thousands of workers who keep the country moving? The public will feel the answer in petrol lines.
What The Parties Have Said
So far, reports show NUPENG’s directive and multiple transport bodies aligning with the boycott. Dangote, which in recent weeks has negotiated truces with marketers, has previously urged unions to find common ground and warned about the risks of supply disruptions.
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Government agencies have signalled concern and called for talks but have been cautious about heavy-handed intervention. The missing element is an emergency plan to keep critical services supplied if commercial distribution halts.
Whose Hands Will The State Put In The Till?
Options are blunt and politically fraught. Authorities could force tanker drivers back to work, invoke emergency powers to requisition fuel or trucks, or compel the refinery to supply through intermediaries, but each choice carries costs: legal pushback, further labour unrest, or undermining private investment.
A less coercive but harder solution is rapid mediation plus emergency logistics support — subsidised ferrying of critical diesel to hospitals and telecom sites, temporary licensing for alternative carriers, and targeted cash assistance for affected drivers. Which route the government picks will signal its broader stance on industrial freedom versus social protection.
The Human Ledger
Beyond economics and acronyms are real people: a mother who waits as her generator sputters, a driver who worries about rent if loads disappear, and a small grocer who watches perishable stock spoil without diesel.
The standoff is not an abstract negotiation; it’s a reallocation of daily survival between organised labour and industrial consolidation.
If the country is to avoid turning this into regular theatre, it needs a durable distribution blueprint that protects workers while modernising delivery, not a monthly reset where headlines reset, people pay, and nothing structural changes.
