Africa’s richest man and founder of the Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, has said that drivers employed by his company earn significantly higher wages than many Nigerian graduates.
Speaking in a video on Tuesday, Dangote addressed recent allegations made by the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), which accused him and Sayyu Aliu Dantata of anti-union practices and attempts to monopolise Nigeria’s downstream oil and gas distribution sector.
NUPENG had threatened a nationwide strike from September 8, claiming that drivers recruited for the newly deployed Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) trucks by the Dangote Refinery were being forced to sign undertakings barring them from joining existing oil and gas unions.
The Nigerian Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO) and the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) backed NUPENG, with NLC President Joe Ajaero accusing Dangote of exploiting workers and suppressing their rights.
But Dangote dismissed the claims, insisting that joining NUPENG should remain voluntary. He said the new trucks would instead create about 24,000 jobs, with each vehicle employing at least six people, and that drivers were being paid far above industry standards.
“Our drivers earn more than graduates. If you look at what they earn in a month, it’s almost four times the national minimum wage,” he said.
He also disclosed that drivers with five years of accident-free service would qualify for housing loans. “The trucks we launched didn’t stop anyone from working. Will our tankers be driven by robots? Every truck has about six people. So, these trucks will create 24,000 jobs. What we are saying is that our salary is almost three or four times their own,” Dangote added.
The billionaire stressed that his company’s investment in CNG trucks is aimed at boosting efficiency in the downstream sector, not eliminating competition or undermining workers’ rights.
