House Of Reps Mandates Committee To Prevent Unbundling of NNPC Without Legislative Approval

The House of Representatives has mandated a joint committee of the House to prevent the Minister of State for Petroleum from usurping the powers of the legislature by attempting to unbundle the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) without legislative approval.

The motion, sponsored by Rep. Agom Jarigbe, advised President Muhammadu Buhari to send an executive bill to the national assembly if he intends to unbundle the NNPC or carry out any fundamental reforms in the oil and gas sector.

The House also condemned the declaration by the minister describing it as the executive legislation.

Earlier, oil workers shut down the operations of the NNPC nationwide until further notice following the unbundling of the corporation.

This decision was reached at a meeting of the Group Executive Councils of Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) and Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), which held on on Tuesday, March 8.

After “extensively discussing the pronouncement”, they “observed that the GMD/HMSP totally disregarded due process and failed to engage stakeholders.

“Hence, from midnight today (Tuesday, March 8), all NNPC locations will be shut down completely until further notice. Further directives will be communicated accordingly”.

Speaking in a telephone interview with Channels Television, President of NUPENG, Mr Igwe Achese, said the unbundling process was not transparent.