The Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) has asked President Bola Tinubu to recall the executive order that stripped the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited of its oil revenue deduction powers.
On February 18, Tinubu signed an EO for the direct remittance of oil and gas revenues to the federation account allocation committee (FAAC).
Speaking during a press briefing on Thursday, Festus Osifo, national president of PENGASSAN, said the EO was 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 said the president has used 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.
The PENGASSAN president acknowledged that the president has the right to enact executive orders and the duty to safeguard the industry.
“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 PENGASSAN president said Tinubu’s action contradicts his efforts to attract both local and international investment to strengthen Nigeria’s economy.
He said if the president had been fully briefed on the implications of the recent executive order, he likely would have acted differently.
Given his background in the industry, his previous experience at ExxonMobil, as well as his understanding of how the sector has evolved, Osifo said the president would not have signed the executive order in its current form.
Furthermore, Osifo said an executive order should not override the provisions of the PIA.
“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.
The group leader also likened the president’s action 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.
He described the EO as “quite troubling” and “an aberration”, questioning the signal it sends to investors.
“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 warned that “the international community” could lose confidence in the PIA, fearing that the government might, through an executive order, raise the royalties they currently pay and override other provisions that protect their investments.
Osifo said 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”.
