Two of Nigeria’s leading oil industry unions have opposed the Federal Government’s plan to divest significant stakes in joint venture assets managed by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL).
The Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) and the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) warned on Tuesday that the proposal could destabilise the economy, weaken the national oil company, and threaten workers’ welfare.
Speaking at a joint press briefing in Abuja, PENGASSAN President Festus Osifo and NUPENG President Williams Akporeha rejected the government’s reported plan to sell between 30 and 35 per cent of its holdings in joint venture assets. The unions stressed that the government currently controls between 55 and 60 per cent of such assets through NNPCL, which manages them on behalf of the federation.
Osifo said the plan would provide temporary revenue but undermine Nigeria’s long-term economic security. He argued that divestment could cripple NNPCL’s ability to pay salaries, sustain welfare obligations, and make vital contributions to the national budget. “You cannot mortgage the future of Nigerians for temporary gains,” he declared.
The unions’ opposition follows President Bola Tinubu’s directive for a reassessment of the NNPC’s 30 per cent management fee and 30 per cent frontier exploration deduction under the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA). While the government frames the review as part of a broader fiscal optimisation effort, labour leaders warned that reopening the PIA barely three years after its passage could damage investor confidence and create fresh uncertainty in the sector.
Akporeha described the move as a dangerous signal to global investors, stressing that every serious oil-producing country protects its national oil company. “Here, we are doing the opposite, stripping ours of its strength,” he said. The unions accused the Ministry of Finance of trying to sideline the Ministry of Petroleum in NNPCL’s ownership structure, calling it a backdoor takeover attempt.
They also recalled how earlier divestments by international oil majors such as ENI’s Agip, ExxonMobil, and Shell shifted ownership of key assets to local firms like Oando and Seplat, leaving NNPCL in a weakened position. The unions warned that further sales would bankrupt the company and erode the federation’s oil revenue.
Both unions urged President Tinubu to personally intervene and halt the divestment plans. They specifically called on him to rein in the Minister of Finance, the NNPCL Board Chairman, and the Group Chief Executive Officer of the company. “If these proposals succeed, Nigeria will struggle to generate the revenue required to fund its budget. This is a recipe for crisis, and we will resist it,” Osifo said.
Although they stopped short of declaring a strike, the unions issued a strong warning that they would “fight with everything” to block the policy. “Whoever mooted this idea, whether from the Ministry of Petroleum, Ministry of Finance, NNPCL, or the Presidency, we reject it 100 per cent. It will make NNPCL bankrupt in a few years,” Osifo added.
The oil unions stressed that Nigeria’s fiscal challenges should not be solved by selling critical national assets, warning that weakening NNPCL would undermine the country’s economic base and could trigger industrial unrest.
