KEY POINTS
- Plateau petroleum tanker drivers protest and withdraw from NUPENG, citing years of neglect.
- Drivers say members face poor pay, job insecurity, injuries and imprisonment without union support.
- NUPENG’s state chairman says issues could have been settled if complaints were formally submitted.
Petroleum tanker drivers in Plateau State have openly renounced their membership of the Nigerian Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers, NUPENG, saying the union has consistently failed to protect them or speak for their interests.
The protest, held at Mista Ali Park Garage in Bassa Local Government Area, drew dozens of drivers who said they had reached the end of their patience.
The drivers argued that their continued affiliation with NUPENG had come at a cost, leaving them without support during arrests, accidents or disputes with tanker owners. Many, they said, were languishing in prisons or dealing with life-altering injuries with no intervention from the union.
Drivers say NUPENG has failed to protect them from job insecurity
Nasiru Sani, who spoke on behalf of the group, said the drivers’ long-standing loyalty to NUPENG had yielded little in return. According to him, tanker drivers nationwide are often hired without appointment letters and can be dismissed at the whim of tanker owners, a situation he described as both demeaning and unsafe. He said many retired after years on the road without pensions, gratuities or any form of welfare, while others had been paralysed by accidents and left to fend for themselves.
Sani added that the mood among drivers across the country had grown increasingly grim, with widespread frustration over poor pay and unstable working conditions. He said the time had come for petroleum tanker drivers to stand alone as an independent body, free from NUPENG’s oversight.
“We are poorly paid, and the union has never shown concern. We are tired,” he said. “There are several of our members who can no longer work. Their families are struggling. We want to be independent as Petroleum Tanker Drivers. We don’t want to be under NUPENG any more.”
In response, the State Chairman of both PTD and NUPENG, Yawale Muhammad, urged calm, insisting that disagreements could be handled through official channels if the drivers presented their grievances properly. He said the leadership was not aware of any formal complaints
