By Abiodun Alade
A storm is gathering over one of Nigeria’s most powerful labour unions, and the thunderclap may soon bring its roof crashing down.
Once upon a time, the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) wore the robe of a fearless defender of workers’ rights.
Today, many accuse it of having shed that robe, donned a silk agbada, and transformed into something far darker, a cartel fattened on levies, intimidation, and extortion.
The Petroleum Tanker Drivers (PTD), the very backbone of the union, are no longer whispering in corners.
They are shouting from the rooftops, demanding the resignation of NUPENG’s president, Comrade Williams Akporeha, and its general secretary, Comrade Afolabi Olawale.
Their accusations read like the script of a Nollywood political thriller: corruption, abuse of office, intimidation, and dragging a once-respected union into national ridicule.
But beneath the drama lies a darker truth: NUPENG no longer behaves like a union. It behaves like a cartel, gripping Nigeria’s fuel supply by the throat while its leaders sip champagne in first-class cabins.
The Cartel’s Hidden Treasury
The list of alleged sins is extensive: harassment of drivers, defiance of court orders, illegal levies at depots, and the conscription of members as street-level enforcers.
Most notorious of all is NUPENG’s ₦39,000 gate fee imposed on every tanker truck, without any legal or regulatory backing.
This single fee generates billions of naira annually. A hidden tax. A shadow treasury. None of it was declared. None of it is accountable.
Let’s do the maths:
A fuel truck carries 33,000 litres of petrol. At ₦39,000 per truck, that’s about ₦1.18 slapped on every litre.
Nigeria consumes roughly 50 million litres daily, meaning NUPENG rakes in ₦59 million every day, that’s ₦1.8 billion monthly, or nearly ₦22 billion annually, all outside government oversight.
And it doesn’t stop there. At gas terminals, members of the Nigeria Liquefied and Compressed Gases Association (NLCGA) have to pay ₦72,000 per truck before they can even load. That’s another ₦3 billion annually, funnelled straight into opaque union coffers.
This isn’t trade unionism. It's an armed robbery with an invoice.
Drivers Without a Safety Net
The greatest tragedy is reserved for the tanker drivers themselves, the men whose sweat and spilt blood keep Nigeria’s fuel economy alive.
They drive rickety trucks on death-trap highways, battling fatigue, accidents, fires, and the daily gamble of survival.
Yet, they have no pension, no insurance, no safety net. Should calamity strike, they are discarded like worn tyres.
Instead of protecting them, NUPENG’s foot soldiers harass these same drivers, extorting levies at every highway corner.
How many of NUPENG’s executives have ever driven a tanker across Ore or Lokoja?
None. Yet from their air-conditioned offices, they dispatch these men into the storm while they themselves float in SUVs, private jets, and international conferences, often with mistresses in tow, not the drivers they claim to represent.
Millions in Dues, Zero Accountability
As if this were not enough, NUPENG deducts 1% of members’ salaries as dues. Millions of naira disappear monthly, yet no one audits these accounts.
Perhaps it’s time for the Registrar of Trade Unions, or better yet, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), to examine the books.
But history suggests NUPENG’s response will be predictable: call a strike, threaten to cripple the economy, and hide its fear of accountability under the flag of workers’ rights.
A Threat to Dangote’s Dream
The danger is real. With a single strike or blockade, NUPENG can paralyse the nation.
This looming threat casts a dark shadow over the Dangote Petroleum Refinery, a $20 billion lifeline designed to end fuel importation and stabilise Nigeria’s energy market.
If NUPENG’s extortion machinery hijacks Dangote’s planned 10,000-strong truck fleet, the dream could curdle into a nightmare.
A single month of disruption could bleed Nigeria of $1.3 billion.
The Rise of Reformers
But change is brewing. A new generation of tanker drivers is rising, determined not to remain pawns in the games of union barons.
Led by men like Lucky Osesua, Dayyabu Garga, and Dr Humble Obinna Power, they are calling for reform, not just of leadership, but of the soul of the union itself.
The International Labour Organisation (ILO) is clear: union membership must be voluntary, not coerced.
NUPENG’s chokehold on workers and businesses violates Convention 87 on Freedom of Association.
Where the ILO envisions freedom, NUPENG enforces fear.
Where it preaches transparency, NUPENG practices racketeering.
A Masquerade at Sunset
Can a cartel be reformed? Can intimidation be digitised?
Can extortion be rebranded as a union service charge?
Every litre of fuel sold in Nigeria today bears an invisible tax, not imposed by the government, but by a handful of union mandarins thriving on impunity.
That is not unionism. It is criminality dressed in overalls.
The end of NUPENG in its current form is no longer a question of if, but when. The masquerade has danced too long in the market square.
Nigerians deserve a union that defends labour, not one that weaponises it.
The Registrar of Trade Unions, the Ministry of Labour, and anti-corruption agencies must summon the courage to break this cartel before it sabotages the nation further.
NUPENG’s fall will not be a tragedy. It will be a cleansing.
Abiodun Alade, a communications specialist, writes from Lagos.
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