PENGASSAN urges Buhari to stop political meddling in NNPC

Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) says the ongoing effort by President Muhammadu Buhari to restructure the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) will make greater impact if political interference in the affairs of the corporation is halted by the Presidency.

The NPPC, which handles the sales of crude oil, Nigeria’s major foreign exchange earner, on behalf of the Federal Government, had been described in some quarters as “the cesspit of corruption.”

In the last couple of years, particularly under the immediate past government of President Goodluck Jonathan, the corporation had been accused of failure to remit in full accruals to the federation account with allegation of shady deals in crude oil sales linked to an unnamed minister.

Fortnight ago, President Buhari began what is seen as a major shakeup in the corporation with the appointment of Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu, as the new group managing director (GMD), followed in quick succession by the sack of all executive directors in what marks the beginning of the structuring of the federally owned corporation.

But workers in the oil and gas industry are insisting that the president should go beyond the restructuring to a total reform in the nation’s political system that will make it impossible for the political class to meddle in the affairs and activities of the NNPC.

Francis Johnson, president, PENGASSAN, who spoke at the triennial delegates’ conference of the workers in Abeokuta, Ogun State, alleged that high level of political interference by the political class had been the bane of the NNPC.