NUPENG, PENGASSAN kick against FG’s planned sale of oil, gas assets

—Say it’s susceptible of plunging system into crisis

By Johnbosco Agbakwuru

ABUJA — THE Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria, PENGASSAN, and the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers, NUPENG, connected Tuesday, rejected alleged plans by the Federal Government to divest important stakes successful Joint Venture,JV assets, managed by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, NNPCL.

The 2 unions person besides raised the alarm that determination was a expansive plan to amend the Petroleum Industry Act, PIA, accusing the Ministry of Finance of plotting to hijack the moving of lipid and state alternatively of the NNPCL. would beryllium successful charge

They warned that the determination could endanger the country’s economical stability, weaken its lipid manufacture and jeopardise the payment of workers.

Besides, they said specified enactment is sending a antagonistic awesome to investors, and called connected President Bola Tinubu to intervene and halt the plan.

At a associated briefing successful Abuja, PENGASSAN President, Comrade Festus Osifo alongside his NUPENG counterpart, Williams Akporeha, said the projected merchantability would not lone undermine nationalist gross but besides owe the aboriginal of coming generations.

The lipid workers argued that government’s program to chopped its stakes successful JV assets, presently betwixt 55 and 60 percent by arsenic overmuch arsenic 30 to 35 percent for speedy currency was short-sighted and dangerous.

The unions recalled past divestments by planetary lipid companies specified arsenic ENI, ExxonMobil, and Shell, which saw their Nigerian operations acquired by home firms.

They insisted that further income of authorities stakes would permission NNPC Ltd weakened and incapable to conscionable captious obligations specified arsenic salaries, benefits, and nationalist fund contributions.

Comrade Osifo said: “Government is wanting to trim its involvement successful these assets, principally, they privation to merchantability immoderate immense percentages successful these assets. In immoderate places, merchantability up 35 percent, successful immoderate places merchantability up 30 percent, truthful that they volition person immoderate currency to walk successful different areas.

“That is the excuse that they are giving. But arsenic an association, arsenic PENGASSAN and NUPENG, we accidental no, no, nary to this. You cannot owe our aboriginal contiguous and time we volition beryllium starving arsenic a country.

“If we let this to continue, it has a mode of making NNPC go bankrupt successful the adjacent fewer years. There are obligations that indispensable beryllium met, the main of these obligations is outgo of unit salaries and payment of our members.

“Whoever mooted this idea, whether from the Ministry of Petroleum, Ministry of Finance, NNPC Ltd, oregon the Presidency itself, we cull it 100 percent,” the unions said.

“As you could callback a portion ago, determination were immoderate divestments that took spot successful immoderate of these JVs. If you could retrieve precise well, successful the ENI, Nigeria Agip Oil Company, it was bought implicit by Oando Energy and Natural Resources. And also, Seplat bought implicit the JV components of ExxonMobil.

“Today, determination is simply a program moved by authorities to trim their involvement successful these JV operations. Currently, authorities holds betwixt 55 percent to 60 percent of the JV assets successful these companies.

“That is the involvement of authorities today. And this involvement of authorities contiguous is being managed by NMPC Limited. So, they negociate this JV connected behalf of the Federation.

“And remember, each crude lipid plus successful Nigeria, each lipid good successful Nigeria, is not conscionable owned by national government, but it is owned by the federation. And NNPC constricted is managing these assets connected behalf of the federation. So the federation is everybody, collectively.”

On the interest implicit the alleged ongoing moves to amend the PIA, passed successful 2021 aft decades of debate, they alleged that the Ministry of Finance was seeking to region the Ministry of Petroleum from associated ownership of NNPC Ltd, which they described arsenic an aberration and a backdoor effort to hijack the company.

According to them, the amendments would portion NNPC Ltd of its halfway nationalist role, undermine capitalist confidence, and yet thrust the institution into bankruptcy.

They said, “As a liable associ...