Oil Sector Workers Reject FG’s Plan to Sell Stake in Oil, Gas Assets

•Say govt taking planned PIA amendment through back door 

•NUPENG denies extortion charge

Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja

Oil Workers under the auspices of the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) and Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) yesterday said they remain opposed to the  federal government’s new policy of divestment of the country’s assets in Joint Venture (JV) oil and gas companies.

Amid the continued face-off between Dangote Refinery Group and NUPENG, the union also pushed back on an allegation that its officials are extorting money from petrol tanker drivers at the depots.

Addressing a joint press conference in Abuja, the leadership of PENGASSAN and NUPENG accused the federal government of planning to move controlling powers over the JV interests from the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) through the Ministry of Petroleum Resources to that of Finance.

Instead of thinking of selling JV assets, the workers urged the government to push for further development of these assets and to add more value to the assets.

The workers explained that the stake of the government in the JV companies today is being managed by NNPC Limited on behalf of the Nigerian Federation and not for the federal government alone.

According to the oil workers, every crude oil asset in Nigeria, every oil well in Nigeria, is not just owned by the federal government, but owned by the federation, including states.

“So it is not the federal government, but the entire federation. Today, the government wants to reduce its stake in these assets. Principally, they want to sell some huge percentages in these assets.

“In some places, they want to sell up to 35 per cent, in some places they sell up to 30 per cent, so that they will have some cash to spend in other areas. That is the excuse that they are giving. But as an association, as PENGASSAN and NUPENG, we say no to this,” the unions stated.

Aside from oil unions, political voices had also joined the opposition. Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has cautioned against what he described as hasty amendments to the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA)  in order to fast-track the equity sale.

He and others insisted that such a move could erode Nigeria’s sovereign control over its most strategic asset, compromise long-term revenue streams in exchange for short-term cash, and tilt advantage toward politically connected firms or foreign entities.

Besides, civil society groups have echoed these concerns, describing the proposal as a step that undermines transparency, accountability, and economic stability. Some advocacy groups have gone further to accuse the government of planning to sell national assets into the hands of cronies, urging President Bola Tinubu to shelve the idea.

President of PENGASSAN, Festus Osifo, said that some amendments that the federal government is trying to bring into the PIA were  being mooted by the Ministry of Finance.

Osifo, who was flanked by NUPENG President, Williams Akporeha, as well as other union leaders, during the press conference said: “Today, NNPC Ltd is owned by the Ministry of Finance Incorporated and the Ministry of Petroleum Incorporated. But they want to go through the back door.

“The Ministry of Finance wants to yank off the Ministry of Petroleum so that they will be the sole owner of NNPC Ltd. We say no! This is an aberration. NNPC, as it is today, is an oil and gas company and it is under the Ministry of Petroleum.

“If there are no ulterior motives, why would you want to pass through the back door to yank off the Ministry of Petroleum Incorporated from the ownership of the structure of NNPC Ltd.? It is an aberration.

“It is not correct and we will not accept it. In fact, the entire proposal that they are putting forth, for us it is inimical. It is going to ensure that NNPC dies in the next few years,” he said.

Osifo warned that if the government goes ahead with the plan, it is not just going to put the future of the country in jeopardy but the future of generations yet to be born will be put in a quagmire.

He said that the unions have formally written to the federal government and may soon commence talks on the issues

“Comrades, gentlemen of the press, just think about it. If 40 years ago, if 30 years ago, these assets were sold, where would Nigeria be getting our forex from to manage our currency? If these assets were sold, where would our country Nigeria be able to generate tax from and get dividends from to be able to manage our budget? You cannot mortgage our future today, and tomorrow we will be starving as a country,” he said.

Osifo, who said that the unions have jointly petitioned the federal government on the matter and are waiting for a meeting, further argued that anything that will cause reduction in crude production has a way of affecting Nigeria’s foreign exchange.

He said that planned JV assets sale will definitely affect the country’s dollar earnings and invariably the Naira and our budget.

 “We don’t need an economic planner, we don’t need a petroleum economist to tell us what is going to happen to us as a country. More so, why are we crying? Why are we shouting? Because if this happens, NNPC Ltd will not be able to meet the yearnings and the welfare of our members.

 “Today,  NUPENG and PENGASSAN constitute the highest workforce in NNPC Ltd. If we allow this to go unchecked, if we allow this to continue the way they are planning it, it has a way of making NNPC become bankrupt in the next few years down the line.

 “Because there are obligations that they must meet. There are obligations that, and the chief of these obligations is payment of staff salaries and the welfare of our members. So if we allow this to go on, it also has a way of diving into other assets,” Osifo said..

When asked if the government’s divestment plan is not similar to the union’s agitation for remodeling of the ownership structure for local refineries, Osifo said that the unions are not against operation of JV partnership as is presently the case.

But he rejected the move by the government to sell its critical asset shares to private entities, thereby depriving subsequent governments and generations yet unborn of resources for development.

The PENGASSAN president said that if the current move by the government is allowed unchecked, it might encourage it to further sell off other critical oil and gas assets held in trust for the Nigerian people.

 “Today, we are talking about assets in about three different companies. But if we allow this to go unchecked, who said they will not sell the stake in Total Energies? Who said they will not sell the stake in First E&P? Who said they will not sell the stake in Chevron Nigeria Ltd.? It will go on and on and on, and at the end of the day, the country will go bankrupt.

 “So for us, whoever mooted this idea, if it is coming from the Ministry of Petroleum, or it is coming from the Ministry of Finance, or it is coming from the GCEO NNPC, or it is coming from the board chair or it is coming from the Presidency itself, we say no! We reject it 100 per cent . We reject it in entirety.

 “All the government should be focused on today is how do we increase production. All we should be focused on today is how to attract investors, how to bring investors from different parts of the world, how to create good fiscal regimes, how to create the enabling environment to ensure that investors come in and we improve our production.

 “ As a country, we have the capacity to improve our production from about 1.7 million barrels per day today to about 3 million barrels in the next one or two years,” he said..

On his part, NUPENG President,  Akporeha, said that oil workers are guided by national interest to oppose the sale of the joint venture oil and gas assets.

When asked to respond to a charge that NUPENG officials were engaging in extortion of money of about N50,000 from Dangote tanker drivers, Akporeha dismissed it, saying “it’s not true”.