The Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) has urged President Bola Tinubu to immediately withdraw the executive order directing the direct remittance of oil and gas revenues to the Federation Account, warning that it could jeopardize around 4,000 jobs and destabilize the industry.
Speaking to journalists in Lagos on Thursday, PENGASSAN President Festus Osifo described the order as a direct challenge to the 2021 Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), which was enacted to reform and stabilize Nigeria’s oil and gas sector.
“The executive order signed by the president is a direct attack on the PIA,” Osifo said, citing sections 8, 9, and 64 of the law.
He argued that while the president has the authority to issue executive orders, such directives should not override existing legislation. “Executive orders cannot supersede the law of the land,” Osifo emphasized, likening the action to “signing an order to override the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) or reduce government pension contributions arbitrarily.”
Osifo also suggested that the president may have been misled by advisors and would have acted differently had he been fully briefed on the potential implications for investment and employment in the oil and gas sector.
He warned that the order could send troubling signals to both local and international investors, undermining confidence in the PIA and the broader regulatory framework that protects investments in the sector.
The executive order, signed on February 18, 2026, mandates the direct remittance of oil and gas revenues to the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC). It also abolishes the 30% Frontier Exploration Fund under the PIA and stops the 30% management fee on profit oil and profit gas retained by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC). The order took effect on February 13, 2026, and is intended to safeguard national oil and gas revenues and improve remittances to the Federation Account.
The directive was issued under Section 5 of the Constitution and anchored on Section 44(3), which vests ownership and control of all minerals, mineral oils, and natural gas in the Federal Government.
Osifo warned that if the order is not recalled, members of PENGASSAN could face redundancies due to NNPC’s potential inability to meet financial obligations.
