The Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) has asked the government to divest its majority stake in state-owned refineries.
According to NAN, Festus Osifo, president of PENGASSAN, spoke on Thursday in Abuja at the ongoing 4th PENGASSAN energy and labour summit (PEALS 2025).
The event was themed ‘Building a Resilient Oil and Gas Sector in Nigeria: Advancing HSE, ESG, Investment and Incremental Production’
The recommendation reflects the rising calls for the privatisation of the state-owned refinery assets.
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“Government must divest majority control of the refineries, just as in the NLNG model, where private partners hold 51 percent while government retains 49 percent,” Osifo said.
The president said Nigeria’s workforce possesses the expertise to manage refineries, but the absence of proper tools and the persistence of political interference have led to inefficiency, waste, and recurring breakdowns.
Osifo warned that Nigeria’s 37 billion barrels of crude reserves could remaining underutilised if production continues to hover around 2 million barrels per day (bpd).
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He urged the authorities to intensify drilling and exploration.
The PENGASSAN president advised that oil revenues should be reinvested in infrastructure, education, and healthcare to promote diversification, citing Dubai’s transformation funded by Abu Dhabi’s oil wealth as a model Nigeria could replicate.
Osifo commended the recent marginal field bid round, describing it as the “most transparent” in Nigeria’s history, arguing that previous allocations were politically influenced and hindered development due to incompetence.
He also condemned alleged anti-labour practices, citing reports that 11 Plc forced “workers to sign agreements barring union membership”.
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Osifo warned that PENGASSAN would resist any attempt to suppress workers’ rights.
In his remarks, Felix Ogbe, the executive secretary of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), underscored the need for human capacity development as the bedrock of Nigeria’s oil and gas growth.
Ogbe said the sector’s sustainability depends not only on reserves and infrastructure but also on equipping Nigerians with critical skills in engineering, safety, automation, and digital technologies.
He highlighted NCDMB’s investments in training, research, and technical innovation, noting that every major oil and gas project must include skill-transfer components.
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Ogbe also stressed the importance of prioritising science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education, vocational training, and collaboration between government, industry, and labour to prepare a workforce that can adapt to energy transition and automation.
He said human capacity is the “true oil” that will sustain Nigeria’s industry for generations.
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