The Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria has warned that widespread job losses may hit Nigeria’s oil and gas industry following President Bola Tinubu’s recent Executive Order restructuring oil revenue remittances.
The directive mandates the direct remittance of royalty oil, tax oil and profit oil to the Federation Account, while scrapping the 30 per cent management fee previously retained by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited on oil and gas profits.
Explaining the rationale behind the order, presidential spokesman Bayo Onanuga said the move is designed to promote transparency, curb discretionary retention of public funds and strengthen statutory allocations to the federal, state and local governments.
However, President of Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria, Comrade Festus Osifo, expressed concern over the potential implications of the policy during a press briefing in Lagos.
Osifo said the union was deeply troubled by the Executive Order, warning that it could destabilise operations within the oil and gas sector and negatively affect workers employed by the national oil company.
According to him, the restructuring could significantly reduce operational revenues available to the company, with the ripple effect likely to result in workforce downsizing and other cost-cutting measures.
The union urged the Federal Government to engage critical stakeholders in the industry to ensure that reforms aimed at improving accountability do not inadvertently jeopardise jobs or weaken the sector’s stability.
