Members of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) and the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) have gone on an indefinite strike in Delta State, paralyzing fuel supply and leading to wide-scale scarcity in Asaba and its environs.
The strike, beginning on Monday, September 8, 2025, followed an emergency meeting two days earlier when the two trade unions resolved to shut down all the filling stations in the state for further directives from their national leadership.
Key filling stations like Rain Oil, Shafa, and Matrix had shut down their outlets by Monday morning, with desperate motorists and businesses having no alternative but to shop at roadside black-market sellers between ₦1,800 and ₦2,000 a litre.
The shutdown has infuriated residents and motorists, with the price of transportation already rising and the price of commodities already going up. Fill stations in Asaba have redundant workers, with one attendant who did not want to be named saying he was directed by his boss to not sell petrol.
In a circular to marketers, the unions threatened to sanction any filling station that defied the order of the strike with ₦1 million. The notice read in part:
“Coming out of an emergency meeting today, 6th September 2025, IPMAN and NUPENG have decided that from tomorrow, Monday, 8th September 2025, all filling stations are to be shut down until further notice from our national leadership. Any station found defaulting will be fined ₦1 million. Pass this word around, for injury to one is injury to all.”
