Tension is brewing in Nigeria’s oil sector as the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) threatens to embark on strike over a dispute with Dangote Refinery concerning the unionisation of its workers. The Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) has also declared support for NUPENG in the matter.
But the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC), a faith-based human rights organisation, has cautioned the unions, urging them to embrace Dangote’s vision of easing Nigerians’ hardship through lower fuel prices.
The call was made in a statement issued on Tuesday, 9th September, 2025, by MURIC’s Founder and Executive Director, Professor Ishaq Akintola.
MURIC warned that a strike at this period could jeopardise the gains of the Tinubu administration’s ongoing economic reforms and plunge the country back into fuel scarcity. It noted that the intervention of Dangote Refinery had already reduced petrol prices significantly, from as high as N1,300 per litre after subsidy removal to between N860 and N900 depending on location.
The organisation also highlighted Dangote’s growing international recognition, citing a $2.5 billion fertilizer project agreement with Ethiopia and the export of more than two million barrels of jet fuel to the United States earlier this year.
According to MURIC, the refinery represents economic relief and progress rather than monopoly. It therefore appealed to the Federal Government to protect Dangote Refinery from what it described as “attempts at blackmail” by the unions, stressing that safeguarding the refinery is critical to sustaining investor confidence, reducing fuel prices, and consolidating economic recovery.
“Nigeria needs every hand on deck,” the statement read. “The unions accuse Dangote of monopoly, but what Nigerians see is economic emancipation and lower fuel prices. This is not the time to disrupt progress but to let Dangote and the Nigerian people breathe.
MURIC also called on traditional rulers, opinion leaders, and all stakeholders of goodwill to intervene and prevail on NUPENG and PENGASSAN to reconsider their planned strike in the interest of the nation.
