NNPC, Others To Be Scraped, As Buhari Signs Petroleum Industry Act . . . NUPENG Allays Fears Of Job Loss
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by Our Correspondent
ABUJA: The signing into law of the Petroleum Industry Bill 2021, by President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday, August 16th may have signaled the end to the existence of some oil and gas governmental agencies.
The agencies to be affected are; Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Petroleum Equalisation Fund (Management) Board (PEF) and Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA).
A statement by the Special Adviser to the President, Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, reads that the president signed the bill while working from home on quarantine, adding that the ceremonial part of the new legislation will be done on Wednesday, August 18th, after the days of mandatory isolation would have been fulfilled.
The Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) provides legal, governance, regulatory and fiscal framework for the Nigerian petroleum industry, the development of host communities and related matters.
It also give authority to the unbundling of the NNPC, the petroleum minister is mandated by the new Law to incorporate a limited liability company, to be known as NNPC Limited, within six months after the commencement of the Act.
It further stipulates that 30 per cent of NNPC Limited’s profit in the production sharing, profit sharing and risk service contracts shall be used to fund the oil exploration in frontier basins.
Part of the new Law allocates 3% of operating expenditure (OPEX) of oil companies, estimated at $500 million annually, be paid as contribution to the Host Community Development Fund.
Inarelateddevelopment, the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) President, Comrade Williams Akporeha has allayed fears of job losses following the new PIA, stressing that, considering the scrapping of some agencies like Petroleum Equalisation Fund (PEF), PPPRA and others, the personnel involved will be posted to other places where their services would be useful.
“We are sure that there will be no job losses in oil and gas. Those persons involved will be moved from that place to another. We will move around the system, there will be no job loss. That is the assurance we can give to our members.’’
He charged the federal government to begin immediate implementation of the law.
‘‘Our position here is a commendable step forward and we hope the implementation will be taken off as stated in the law,’’ he said.
The Senate described the assent as a major victory for the country. In a statement by its spokesperson, Senator Ajibola Basiru, the Senate said the Act has the potential of bailing Nigeria out of its economic predicament and would enable the country to make the most of the economic gains of the oil industry.
While the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, said Nigeria’s oil and gas industry will now witness more investments and transparency in the sector.
In a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr Lanre Lasisi, the Speaker noted that when massive investments come in as a result of the Act, a lot of Nigerians will gain employment.
