The Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), and the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas workers (NUPENG), yesterday alleged clandestine plans by government to carry out the sale/concessioning of some strategic business units of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).
The Group Executive Councils of the oil workers’ groups identified the affected units to include the upstream exploration and production subsidiary, the National Petroleum Development Company (NPDC); the gas marketing and distribution arm, Nigerian Gas Company (NGC); the petroleum products marketing and distribution arm, the Pipelines and Products Marketing Company (PPMC), and the four refineries in Port Harcourt, Kaduna and Warri. According to the PENGASSAN President, Francis Johnson, and his NUPENG counterpart, Richard Otovwievwiere, their members not only reject this move in its entirety, they also condemn any attempt to restructure, unbundle and reorganize, these units in whatever guise.
‘The plot’
“The NNPC NUPENG & PENGASSAN have uncovered a well-concealed on-going plan by the Bureau for Public Enterprises (BPE) to surreptitiously transfer ownership and control of some carefully selected, performing and viable ‘national assets in the NNPC’ to certain surrogate foreign fronts that have been arranged by some privileged Nigerians to satisfy their parochial interests,” the unions said. Describing the alleged plan as “devilish, retrogressive plot of the BPE,” the unions said they are also aware that processes are already at advanced stages concession these subsidiaries to “some Nigerian Politicians using certain phony entities.”
Recalling a similar move in two years ago when some of the refineries were about to be sold in controversial circumstances, the unions said the interest of their member would be adversely affected if allowed to succeed. The NPDC, they explained, has already developed Abura field in OML 65 from 980 barrels of (crude) oil per day (bopd) to 5,000bopd and has also successfully transited OPL 91 to OML 119, OPL 113 to OML 111 and several others are at advanced stages of development.
NNPC faults claims
The NNPC’s spokesperson, Levi Ajuonuma, however dismissed the allegations as lacking in substance. “The NNPC management categorically and vehemently deny any such clandestine plan,” he said. “Our appeal to NUPENG and PENGASSAN is to avoid any action or statements capable of heating up the polity, as management is working in.”
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