LAGOS — Nigeria’s most powerful oil sector union has fired a broadside at President Bola Tinubu, bluntly rejecting his recently signed Executive Order on Oil and Gas Revenue Remittance and demanding its immediate reversal — setting up a high-stakes confrontation between the presidency and the industry workforce.
Festus Osifo, President of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), accused the President of having been “wrongly advised” before signing the Order, warning that its provisions clearly violate the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) — potentially scaring off investors at a time when Nigeria badly needs upstream capital.
“The haste in signing and gazetting the Order will create more problems for the sector and discourage potential investors,” Osifo said. He argued that the Order introduces legal uncertainties that would make investors fear arbitrary changes to royalties and taxes, eroding their return on investment.
At the heart of the dispute is a complex web of revenue deductions under the PIA framework. The Executive Order, signed on February 13, 2026, directs that the 30 per cent profit from oil and gas under production sharing, profit sharing, and risk service contracts — previously earmarked for the Frontier Exploration Fund — be transferred directly to the Federation Account. It also strips NNPC Limited of its 30 per cent management fee on Profit Oil and Profit Gas, and requires all operators to pay Royalty Oil, Tax Oil, and Profit Oil directly to the Federation Account. Additionally, President Tinubu suspended payments of Gas Flare Penalties into the Midstream and Downstream Gas Infrastructure Fund (MDGIF).
Osifo disputed the government’s characterization of the deductions, arguing NNPC Limited accounts for less than 2 per cent of the Frontier Exploration Fund. He was particularly incensed that neither PENGASSAN nor other major industry stakeholders were consulted before the Order was gazetted — especially after receiving assurances that an Executive Bill would be introduced with full public hearings.
PENGASSAN has announced it will convene a National Executive Council (NEC) meeting next week and will also meet with the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), the Trade Union Congress (TUC), and other stakeholders to chart a collective response. The union stopped short of announcing strike action, but the tone of Osifo’s remarks left little doubt that escalation remains firmly on the table.
For its part, the Federal Government insists the reforms are urgently needed, establishing a high-powered Implementation Committee — including the Ministers of Finance, Justice, and Budget, along with the Chairman of the Nigeria Revenue Service — to oversee the Order’s enforcement. The presidency argues that the current PIA architecture allows deductions that divert more than two-thirds of potential Federation Account remittances, and that the reforms will free up resources for security, education, healthcare, and the energy transition.
Source: orientalnewsng.com