The Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria said the Federal Government has begun engaging its stakeholders and those of the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers to resolve planned industrial action over alleged monopolistic moves by Dangote Refinery.

PETROAN National President Billy Gillis-Harry disclosed this while appearing on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief on Monday.

According to him, the row centres on the refinery’s increasing involvement across refining, storage, logistics and retail, a development the association fears will marginalise existing operators and workers.

PUNCH Online earlier reported the association had announced plans to suspend lifting and dispensing of petroleum products for three days if talks held from Sunday through Monday fail to produce an agreement.

According to a Sunday statement by its National Public Relations Officer, Joseph Obele, the association said the action would begin at midnight on Tuesday, September 9, 2025.

NUPENG, confirming the plans, accused Dangote Refinery management of fostering exploitative labour practices and barring new drivers for imported CNG trucks from joining unions.

The union’s leadership said the planned action was a warning against “modern slavery” in the sector.

Gillis-Harry said regulators and stakeholders have been in consultation and expressed optimism that a solution can be reached if all parties agree to a roundtable.

“We believe that there will be a solution, and the solution is simple- everybody should be at the table.

“Let all of us do what we must do cooperatively to ensure that Nigerians are served more efficiently. That’s the whole story,” he told The Morning Brief.

Expressing its position, Gillis-Harry said the union wants the industry to operate in a way that all players are efficiently serving Nigerians.

“We have advocated that there be a clearly defined role for all the players. Over 50 years ago, industry players set up retail outlets, so you have several stakeholders in the industry. We have the Major markets, we have the Depot, the Independent Marketers, PETROAN, NUPENG, and NARTO.

“We have had a situation in the last few months. From June, we started getting fillers of the Dangote Refinery wanting to involve itself in all the tiers of the business- from refining, to storage, to logistics, and then possibly finally the retail outlets.

“We have requested that, for the purpose of efficiency, let us sit on a round table and have this clearly defined, exactly what each of us can do, and we were very anxious. Let’s say on record that we want the Dangote Refinery to be very successful, and we keep repeating that, because we don’t want a misunderstanding that there is a fight. There is actually no fight. It is an insistence on how things should be.

He added, “Now it has got to the point where workers’ rights are being infringed, up to the point that NUPENG have gone out to give a warning strike. Not that they have gone on strike.

“But they are giving a warning that the situation can become very taxing and troublesome for Nigerians. So let us all get it solved, and I think it is the right idea.

“For PEROAN, don’t forget that the most critical aspect of our operations is our retail outlets staff, and the people who are handling these are in the union. So once the NUPENG strike takes effect, our stations will effectively be locked up.

“It’s much better for efficiency that all retail outlets must belong to a union. If not, then you go to a station and buy one litre for maybe N2000, and then you get to other places and buy for N800, and there will be no sanctions because there is no union for internal control,” Gillis-Harry said on The Morning Brief.

The dispute follows Dangote’s plan to import thousands of compressed natural gas-powered trucks for direct distribution to retailers — a move PETROAN and labour groups say should be managed through clear, industry-wide arrangements to protect competition and employee rights.

The Dangote Group has not publicly responded to the allegations.

The Federal Government has appealed for calm.

Minister of Labour and Employment Muhammad Maigari Dingyadi urged NUPENG and allied unions to reconsider the planned action.

He called on the Nigeria Labour Congress to withdraw a “red alert” that urged affiliates to prepare for nationwide industrial action.

Dingyadi said the ministry’s intervention aims to preserve stability in the critical petroleum sector.