Members of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association (PENGASSAN) and the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) have opposed an alleged plan by the Federal Government to sell off some of its stakes in the Joint Ventures with international oil companies operating in the country.
The controversy follows President Bola Tinubu’s directive last month for a reassessment of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited’s 30 per cent management fee and 30 per cent frontier exploration deduction under the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA).
While charging the Economic Management Team, Tinubu explained need to optimise government savings, enhance fiscal discipline in a time of global financial strain, and streamline deductions from the Federation Account.
However, speaking at a joint news conference in Abuja on Tuesday, the two unions maintained that selling off those stakes will not only put the country’s oil sector in the hands of foreigners and private individuals, but will deplete government’s efforts to defend the naira at the foreign exchange market.
The PENGASSAN President, Festus Osifo, and his NUPENG counterpart, Williams Akporeha, kicked against the proposal to cut government stakes in JV assets by as much as 30–35 per cent.
Currently, FG holds between 55 and 60 per cent of such assets through the NNPCL.
According to them, selling stakes in the assets would be at the expense of Nigeria’s long-term economic security, bankrupt NNPCL, impair its ability to meet obligations such as salaries and welfare packages, and shrink its contributions to the national budget.
“The government wants to reduce its stake in these assets. In some cases, they are talking of selling up to 35 per cent. But we say no.
“You cannot mortgage the future of Nigerians for temporary gains.
“The NNPCL manages JV assets on behalf of the Federation. Every oil well belongs to the Nigerian people collectively, not just the Federal Government. If these stakes are sold, the federation loses, and the national oil company will be too weak to deliver,” he argued.
The unions also accused the Ministry of Finance of attempting to remove the Ministry of Petroleum from joint ownership of NNPCL.
They noted that the proposed amendments of the PIA would strip NNPCL of its core national role, scare away investors, and send negative signals about Nigeria’s policy consistency.
“The PIA was passed after years of struggle. Investors are just beginning to adapt to it. Now, the government wants to amend it again? That is a dangerous signal,” Akporeha said. According to him, every serious oil-producing nation protects its national oil company. “Here, we are doing the opposite, stripping ours of its strength,” he added.
“If these proposals succeed, Nigeria will struggle to generate the revenue required to fund its budget. This is a recipe for crisis, and we will resist it,” Osifo maintained.
READ ALSO: External Reserve Hits $43bn,14 Banks Meet New Capital Requirements – CBN
The oil workers vowed to resist any attempt to go on with the plans, just as they also called for a halt on a proposed amendment to the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA).
“Whoever mooted this idea, whether from the Ministry of Petroleum, Ministry of Finance, NNPCL, or even the Presidency itself, we reject it 100 per cent. It will make NNPCL bankrupt in a few years. We will not allow that to happen,” Osifo insisted.
Akporeha noted that the PIA, enacted barely three years ago, had not been given enough time to stabilise before fresh amendments were being considered.
“When laws are inconsistent, they scare away investment. The investors are just beginning to understand the PIA, and suddenly government wants to change it again,” he said.
