The Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria on Sunday renewed its call for the Federal Government to divest majority shares in the nation’s state-owned refineries, urging authorities to adopt the Nigeria LNG model by selling at least 51 per cent equity to core investors.
Under this arrangement, the government would retain a minority stake while selling a majority shareholding to core investors.
The National President of PENGASSAN and the Trade Union Congress, Festus Osifo, made the recommendation when he featured as a guest on Politics Today on Channels Television.
Osifo said the union had consistently canvassed partial privatisation of the refineries over the past two decades, insisting that government ownership structure had hindered efficiency and commercial viability.
He said, “We have always advocated in PENGASSAN in the last 20 years that the government should bring about the NLNG model in the refinery. And what is that? The government should take a minority stake in the refinery and sell the majority stake.
“At least, the government should sell a minimum of 51 per cent to investors. And these investors should be refiners. They shouldn’t just be portfolio investors or politicians or friends of the political class.
“But sell at least 51% of this refinery, you sell it to refiners. So we are not against the government selling a majority stake in the refinery. That is what we have advocated in recent years. If you check the NLNG model, it has worked. A combination of ENI, Total Energy and Shell has 51 per cent in NLNG.”
According to the union, divesting majority shares to private refiners would depoliticise refinery management, encourage fresh investment and promote profitability.
While expressing support for the current NNPCL management’s move to attract investors and divest, Osifo maintained that the government should still retain a minority stake to safeguard energy security.
“So when they are making decisions, their decisions are not subjected to any political whims and caprices. That is actually what we have advocated. The government should divest its interest in the refineries and allow a minimum of 51 per cent of its shareholding.
“Give it to private investors, let them invest, and allow them to come around the refineries. The advantage of it is that it will not be politicised. Businessmen will make business decisions that will impact and help them make a profit. That has been our position.
“Thank God, that is the direction this new NNPC management has said they are driving it to bring in investors and divest from it. But they should not sell it 100 per cent. The reason is because of energy security,” he assured.
Osifo’s position comes amid renewed debate over the future of Nigeria’s moribund state-owned refineries and the broader reform of the oil and gas sector following the commercialisation of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited.
His comments also followed remarks by the Group Chief Executive Officer of the NNPC, Bayo Ojulari, who on Saturday praised Africa’s largest single-train refinery, the Dangote Petroleum Refinery, describing it as a symbol of “technological audacity and national pride.”
Ojulari spoke during a landmark visit to the 650,000 barrels-per-day facility alongside members of the NNPC board and executive management team — the first official tour of the refinery by the senior leadership of the state oil firm. NNPC currently holds a seven per cent equity stake in the privately owned refinery.
The call by PENGASSAN signals organised labour’s conditional support for majority private participation in the country’s refining sector, provided the government retains a minority stake to safeguard energy security while insulating operations from political interference.
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