The Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) has called on President Bola Tinubu to rescind the executive order (EO) removing the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited’s authority to deduct oil revenue at source.
Tinubu had, on February 18, signed an executive order mandating the direct remittance of oil and gas revenues to the federation account allocation committee (FAAC).
Addressing journalists on Thursday, Festus Osifo, national president of PENGASSAN, described the directive as a “direct attack” on the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA).
“The executive order that was signed by the president yesterday is a direct attack on the PIA,” he said.
“The provisions are sections 8, 9, and 64 of the PIA. It’s a direct attack.”
Osifo argued that the president had deployed an executive order “to set aside a law of the Federal Republic of Nigeria”.
“We think that with immediate effect, the president should recall that executive order, and have a second look at it, because we know that the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria has done everything possible to attract investment to the oil and gas industry,” he said.
While acknowledging the president’s constitutional authority to issue executive orders and his responsibility to protect the industry, Osifo insisted that the latest move was misguided.
“But we strongly believe that, in this particular case, the president has been misled,” Osifo said.
“We strongly believe that the people advising the president did not actually tell him the entire truth,” Osifo said.
The labour leader maintained that the decision runs counter to Tinubu’s drive to woo domestic and foreign investors to bolster the economy.
He added that a more comprehensive briefing on the consequences of the executive order might have influenced a different decision.
Osifo noted that considering the president’s professional background in the oil and gas sector, including his previous experience at ExxonMobil, as well as his understanding of how the industry has evolved, he would not have endorsed the order in its current form.
Osifo further maintained that executive orders cannot override statutory provisions.
“You will agree with me that when we talk about executive orders, they cannot supersede the law of the land. Executive order cannot override the provision of a law,” he said.
He compared the situation to “signing an executive order setting aside Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)”.
“It’s just like the president waking up tomorrow and signing an executive order to decrease the government contribution in pension from the 10% government contribution today to 2%,” he added.
Describing the development as “quite troubling” and “an aberration”, Osifo questioned the implications for investor confidence.
“This should never have happened because at this time today, the president is telling Nigerians and the international community that he can one day use a law to set aside the grand law or the provisions of our constitution or the extant laws that are enacted by the national assembly,” Osifo said.
He cautioned that “the international community” may begin to doubt the stability of the PIA, worrying that the government could alter royalty payments or other investment safeguards through executive action.
Osifo warned that failure to withdraw the order could have dire consequences for workers.
“If the order is not recalled, our members are in danger of being declared redundant because NNPC may not be able to meet their obligations to our members,” he said.
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