Oil Workers Reject FG Plan To Sell NNPC Assets

The Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) and the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) have strongly opposed reported plans by the federal government to sell major stakes in Joint Venture (JV) oil and gas assets managed by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd).

At a joint briefing in Abuja on Tuesday, PENGASSAN President Festus Osifo and NUPENG President Williams Akporeha warned that the proposal would endanger Nigeria’s economic stability, weaken NNPC, and threaten workers’ welfare.

According to them, government’s plan to cut its 55–60 percent stake in some assets by as much as 30–35 percent for quick cash is “short-sighted and dangerous.” They argued that such sales would deprive the nation of long-term revenue and “mortgage the future of coming generations.”

The unions recalled that past divestments by international oil companies such as ENI, ExxonMobil, and Shell left their operations in the hands of local firms, adding that further government withdrawals could render NNPC unable to meet key obligations, including salaries, benefits, and contributions to the national budget.

They also raised alarm over attempts to amend the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), alleging that the Ministry of Finance was seeking to edge out the Ministry of Petroleum from joint ownership of NNPC Ltd. The move, they claimed, was an “aberration” designed to hijack the company, weaken investor confidence, and push it toward bankruptcy.

“Whoever mooted this idea, whether from the Ministry of Petroleum, Ministry of Finance, NNPC Ltd or the Presidency, we reject it 100 percent,” the unions declared.

They called on President Bola Tinubu to urgently step in and halt the process.