Two of Nigeria’s most influential oil sector unions have kicked against the Federal Government’s reported plan to divest significant stakes in joint venture assets managed by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL).
At a joint press conference in Abuja on Tuesday, the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) and the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) warned that such a move would destabilise the economy, weaken the oil industry, and endanger workers’ welfare.
PENGASSAN President, Festus Osifo, and NUPENG President, Williams Akporeha, said the proposal to reduce government stakes in JV assets by 30–35 per cent—which currently stand at 55–60 per cent—would provide only short-term revenue while mortgaging Nigeria’s future.
“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,” Osifo declared.
The controversy follows President Bola Tinubu’s directive last month for a review of NNPCL’s 30 per cent management fee and 30 per cent frontier exploration fund under the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA). The unions, however, warned that further tinkering with the law, which took decades to enact, would unsettle investors and cripple the NNPCL.
“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,” Osifo argued.
Akporeha described the plan as a “dangerous signal” to investors. “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. Every serious oil-producing nation protects its national oil company. Here, we are doing the opposite, stripping ours of its strength,” he said.
The unions also accused the Ministry of Finance of trying to edge out the Ministry of Petroleum from joint ownership of NNPCL, describing it as an attempted hijack of the national oil company.
While stopping short of declaring a strike, the unions vowed to resist the plan with all available means. “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 stated.
Both unions urged President Tinubu to halt the divestment plan, warning that weakening the NNPCL would erode Nigeria’s economic foundation and could trigger industrial unrest.
