We want competent replacements for sacked executives - says Nigerian Oil Workers

Nigerian oil workers, under the
aegis of Petroleum and Natural
Gas Senior Staff Association of
Nigeria, PENGASSAN, on
Wednesday applauded the
federal government for the
renewed effort to reorganize the
productive and extractive
industries.
Acting General Secretary of
PENGASSAN, Lumumba
Okugbawa, on Wednesday
commended the government’s
recent decision to review and
redraft the Petroleum Industry
Bill (PIB) for re-submission to
the National Assembly for
passage.
The PIB, which would provide
the legal and institutional
framework for the country’s oil
and gas sector, has been
pending before the National
Assembly for approval since
2012.
Mr. Okugbawa said the PIB,
when eventually passed into law
by the National Assembly, would
redefine the regulatory and
control apparatus of the oil and
gas industry and ensure that the
petroleum industry operated in
line with acceptable global
standards.
Lamenting the long delay in
passing the draft documents
into law, Mr. Okugbawa said the
absence of established laws
guiding aspects of the industry
operations has cost the country
huge losses, in terms of fresh
investments.
“The senior staff association
calls on the National Assembly
to expedite action on the
passage of the Petroleum
Industry Bill, PIB, as well as
reconsider global best practices
in maintaining two regulatory
agencies to superintend over the
upstream and downstream
sectors,” the PENGASSAN scribe
said.
On the government’s decision to
sack the Chief Executives for the
regulatory agencies in the petroleum
industry on Tuesday, Mr. Okugbawa called
for a “diligent search for suitable
replacements” to sustain the momentum of
progress in the industry reform process.
The Federal Government had on Tuesday
sacked the Chief Executives of the Petroleum
Technology Development Fund (PTDF);
Nigerian Content Development and
Monitoring Board (NCDMB); Petroleum
Equalization Fund (PEF), and Petroleum
Product Pricing Regulatory Agency, PPPRA.

Minister of State for Petroleum Resources,

Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu