Tinubu NNPC Executive Order: PENGASSAN Says 4000 Oil Workers Risk Losing their Jobs; It’s Illegal

President of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria, PENGASSAN, Festus Osifo has described President Bola Ahmed Tinubu Executive Order to the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, NNPC, as contrary to the rule of law and Petroleum Industry Act, PIA. Osifo said the Order will lead to at least 4000 job loses in the sector if not immediately reversed.

The PENGASAN president said the Order is also capable of scaring away investors in the nation’s oil and gas sector.

The president had on Wednesday signed the Order directing the NNPCL to pay all revenues into the federation Account. The order, which bared the NNPCL from deductions, including the 30 percent management fee directly from oil revenues, has been generating controversies in the sector.

Reacting  at a press conference on Thursday in Lagos, Osifo, said the Order negates  section 8, section 9, and section 64 of the enabling PIA law , saying the president cannot use an Executive Order to override the provision of the law, adding that the order is also capable of eroding the gains from the PIA, as well as cause redundancy of workers in the oil and gas sector.

Osifo: “The Executive Order that was signed by the President yesterday (Wednesday) is a direct attack of the provisions of the PIA. The provisions of the PIA are section 8, section 9, and section 64 of the PIA. What the president has done is that he has used an Executive Order to set aside a law of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. That is exactly what the President has done.

“This is an aberration. This should never have happened. The President is telling Nigerians and the international community that he can use a law to set aside even the ground law; that he can use a law to set aside the provisions of our Constitution or the laws that are enacted by the National Assembly. This is not correct. This is not how it should be.

“That is why we believe that the president was misled. Because if this sails through, what is going to happen is that the international communities are going to lose faith in the PIA. The investors are going to lose faith in the PIA.

“The president should recall that executive order, have a second look at it because we know that the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria has done everything possible to attract investment to the oil and gas industry.

“We cannot use one single executive order to set aside all the good work that the President has embarked upon since he assumed office as far as the oil and gas industry is concerned.

“So this is quite troubling. This is quite alarming. And we want the President to act fast because not doing this is going to jeopardise the gains that we have made since the PIA was enacted in August 2021,” he said.

Osifo stressed that the president’s action can lead to 0ver 4000 job losses in the sector, calling on Tinubu to rescind the Order in the interest of the country.

“We are bothered because today we have our members in NNPC. Our members in NNPC today are going close to 4,000 Nigerians working there. We have the entire staff strength of NNPC. If this is allowed to sail through the way it is today, I can tell you that in the next few months our members are in danger of being declared as redundant because the company may not be able to meet it’s obligations to our members.

“So it’s going to bring about a lot of challenges in the industry, a lot of industrial issues in the industry. So this is another reason why we are worried. This is another reason why we felt that some of the provisions that were propagated to the President in that executive order that he signed were not correct.

“For example, they said that 30.per cent of the Frontier Exploration Fund goes to NNPC Limited. It’s not correct. That money doesn’t actually go to NNPC.

“There is a Frontier Exploration account that the money goes to. It doesn’t go to NNPC.

“It was also assumed that the royalties and all that goes to NUPRC and personal accounts and all that, no. That money as of today goes to Federal Government’s accounts. So there are provisions there that are not correct.

“Yes, we acknowledge that the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria has the right to enact executive orders. We know that the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria has a duty and responsibility to protect and safeguard the industry,” Osifo said.

Adding, “But we strongly believe that in this particular case, the President has been misled. We strongly believe that the people that are advising the President did not actually tell him the entire truth. Because the President that we know is someone who is travelling all over the world to bring about investment.

“He’s someone that is moving from one part of the country to another, and one part of the world to another, to bring in investors, to ensure that Nigeria’s economy thrives. If the President was exposed to the entire truth regarding this recent executive order, we know that he would have acted otherwise.

“Because being somebody that has worked in the industry, being somebody that has worked in ExxonMobil in the past, being somebody that has understood how this industry has evolved over time, he wouldn’t have appended his signature to that executive order that was passed.”