Nigeria losing oil firms to insecurity – PENGASSAN

By DailyTimesNGR

17 June 2025

News

…lament fuel price fraud

By Ukpono Ukpong

The Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) yesterday raised the alarm over the continued divestment of international oil companies from Nigeria, blaming worsening insecurity in oil-producing regions and heavy operational costs as major contributors.

Speaking at a press conference in Abuja, PENGASSAN President, Comrade Festus Osifo, decried the high cost of securing oil installations in the country, stating that it has become unsustainable for many firms.

“The reason majority of the oil and gas operators; the international oil and gas companies started leaving Nigeria is principally because of insecurity.

“For one offshore installation, you have a minimum of three or four security vessels, manned by naval personnel, paid for by the companies daily. That’s not the case in countries like Ghana, where the government provides this protection.” Osifo explained.

He urged the Federal Government to take full responsibility for safeguarding oil assets, adding that private companies should not bear security costs “running into hundreds of millions of dollars per annum.”

While acknowledging President Bola Tinubu’s Executive Order signed in May, which offers up to 20% tax credits for upstream companies that meet efficiency benchmarks, Osifo maintained that such incentives fail to tackle the root issue of insecurity.

He further criticised the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) for failing to uphold transparency in fuel pricing, alleging the agency has become complicit in exploiting Nigerians.

“Despite significant reductions in global crude oil prices from $80 to around $60 per barrel, Nigerians do not enjoy a proportionate drop in petrol pump prices.

“When crude oil was at $60 per barrel, we should have been buying petrol at N700 to N750 per litre, not N900,” Osifo added.

He described NMDPRA’s silence on this disparity as irresponsible and damaging to public trust.

To address the country’s ailing refining system, Osifo recommended adopting the Nigeria LNG partnership model, where government holds minority shares and experienced private investors take majority control.

“This model has worked for NLNG. So, why can’t we replicate the same structure in the management of our refineries to eliminate political interference and promote efficiency?” he queried.

He also disclosed that PENGASSAN had signed an agreement with Sterling Oil Company to enhance local content by training Nigerian workers to take over positions from expatriates.

Switching focus to recent national events, Osifo commended President Tinubu for honouring the late Comrade Frank Kokori with a posthumous Commander of the Order of the Niger (CON) award on June 12, but criticised the exclusion of other key union leaders who also played significant roles in the pro-democracy struggle.

He specifically called out the omission of Comrade Gani Owodunni, former PENGASSAN President, and Comrade Milton Dabibi, former Secretary General, who he described as dogged defenders of democracy.

“PENGASSAN was prescribed in 1994 because there was a strike going on, and they were pushed to call off the strike. The Abacha government pushed them consistently to call it off, but they refused. That was due to the doggedness of Comrades Owodunni and Dabibi,” he recalled.

“We are quite happy that in the oil and gas industry a posthumous award was given to Chief Frank Kokori, the former Secretary General of NUPENG. But we were a bit taken aback that some of the veterans in PENGASSAN…were missed from the list,” he said.

Osifo concluded by applauding Nigerians for sustaining 26 years of uninterrupted democracy, saying, “We salute the courage of an average Nigerian citizen. We say well done, irrespective of the hardship, the challenges and difficulties we all face, we have emerged stronger.”