LOOMING STRIKE IN OIL SECTOR: MURIC BERATES UNIONS

9^th September, 2025

PRESS RELEASE:

LOOMING STRIKE IN OIL SECTOR: MURIC BERATES UNIONS

Crisis looms in Nigeria’s oil sector as the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) threatens to go on strike over a disagreement with Dangote Refinery on the participation of Dangote workers in the petroleum body.

However, a faith-based human rights group, the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC), has urged the unions to key into Dangote’s vision of reduced hardship for Nigerians through low price of petrol.

This was contained in a statement issued on Tuesday, 9^th September, 2025 by the Founder and Executive Director of the Islamic civil liberties organization, Professor Ishaq Akintola.

The statement reads:

“The Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) has threatened to go on strike over a disagreement with Dangote Refinery on the participation of Dangote workers in the petroleum body. Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) is also in alliance with NUPENG on the issue (https://punchng.com/dangote-vs-nupeng-union-insists-on-strike-meets-fg-others-today/).

“MURIC calls on the unions to soft-pedal. This is not the best time to go on strike. Nigeria is just coming out of the woods as a result of the economic reforms of the Tinubu administration. A strike in the oil sector at this point in time can derail the reforms and take us back to the dark days of fuel shortages.

“We have seen the good effect of the emergence of a local private refinery in the last few months. We saw how one litre of petrol which used to cost N1,300 after the removal of subsidy came down drastically. It is now N860 or N900 depending on location after Dangote refinery came to the rescue.

“We appeal to the unions to allow Nigerians enjoy the full benefits of a local refinery that is already being celebrated all over the world. Ethiopia and Dangote Refinery recently signed a $2.5 billion deal to build a massive fertilizer plant in Ethiopia (https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/nigerias-dangote-ethiopia-build-25-billion-fertiliser-plant-2025-08-28/). The United States imported over two million barrels of Dangote’s jet fuel in March 2025 (https://theelectricityhub.com/dangote-refinery-gains-global-recognition-as-u-s-imports-over-2m-barrels-of-jet-fuel/).

“MURIC subscribes to the core principle of utilitarianism which is the greatest happiness to the greatest number of people. We therefore urge the unions to key into Dangote’s vision of reduced hardship for Nigerians through low price of petrol. This can only be facilitated if the unions cooperate in the area of diminished middlemen’s intervention. It can still be done without breaking the rules of the International Labour Organisation (ILO).

“We appeal to the Federal Government (FG) to protect Dangote Refinery from this calculated attempt to blackmail it. Unionism often leads to oligarchic dictatorship which benefits only a few union leaders, their puppets and their court jesters leaving the hoi polloi at the receiving end. FG stands to gain if the price of petrol is drastically reduced as this will boost the gains of its economic reform.

“Nigeria needs every hand on deck as things stand. With a GDP growth of 3.13% in the first quarter of 2025 which is higher than the 2.27% in the same period in 2024 and the inflation rate reduced to 21.88 in July 2025 compared to the scary economic outlook in 2023 and 2024, FG cannot afford to relent on these gains by allowing aggressive unionism to scuttle the gains.

“Besides, the action of these unions is capable of discouraging investors who have already started showing interest in Nigeria. For instance, Brazil has indicated strong interest.

“Other countries which have shown interest in investing here include China, Saudi Arabia, Mauritius, the United Arab Emirates, the United States, the United Kingdom and the Republic of South Africa. FG must not leave foreign investors to the hawks in the garb of unionism. FG must do everything necessary to avoid another round of fuel shortages. This is the time to show prospective foreign investors that their investments will be protected. But Dangote must be protected first because charity, they say, begins at home.

“We remind Nigerians that Dangote’s policy of reduced middlemen’s influence will keep prices down. Subsidy thieves of those days can be compared to petroleum middlemen of today. They both make prices go higher.

“The unions are accusing Dangote Refinery of monopoly and enslavement, but what Nigerians see is economic emancipation and reduction in the prices of petroleum products.

“We therefore urge traditional rulers, opinion leaders and all men of goodwill to persuade both NUPENG and PENGASSAN to let Dangote and the Nigerian people breathe.”

#DangoteRefinery

#NupengPengassan

#LetDangoteNigeriansBreathe

Professor Ishaq Akintola,

Founder/Executive Director,

Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC)