The Federal Government has officially announced the scrapping of the Department of Petroleum (DPR), the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) and the Petroleum Equalization Fund (PEF).
This is coming after the take-off of the Nigerian Upstream Regulatory Commission (NURC) and the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) following the implementation of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) after the recent signing by President Muhammadu Buhari
This disclosure was made by the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva, while speaking on the side-lines of the inauguration of the boards of the NURC and NMDPRA in Abuja, according to Punch. He however, said that workers at these 3 agencies would have their jobs protected, while their Chief Executive Officers had been relieved of their various appointments.
What the Minister of State for Petroleum is saying
Sylva explained that with the passage of the Petroleum Industry Act, the NPRA and NURC had taken over the functions of the DPR, PPPRA and PEF.
The Minister in response to a question on what would become of DPR following the inauguration of the board of NURC, Sylva said that it is now a matter of law.
He said, “The law states that all the assets and even the staff of the DPR are to be invested on the commission and also in the authority. So that means the DPR doesn’t exist anymore.
“And, of course, the law specifically repeals the DPR Act, the Petroleum Inspectorate Act, the Petroleum Equalisation Fund Act and the PPPRA Act. The law specifically repeals them. It is very clear that those agencies do not exist anymore.”
On what would happen to the chief executives and employees of DPR, PEF and PPPRA, Sylva said, “The law also provides for the staff and the jobs in those agencies to be protected.
“But I’m sure that that doesn’t cover, unfortunately, the chief executives, who were on political appointments.”
He stated that the process for aligning the workers of the defunct agencies with the new regulatory bodies had already commenced, as the staff had to be rationalised adding that the inauguration of the boards will mark the beginning of the successor agencies.
He said, “The authority has its staff coming from the defunct PEF, PPPRA and DPR. The commission has staff coming over from DPR and the process is going on for the next few weeks.
“The PIA provides for the upstream regulatory commission and the establishment of the midstream and downstream authority.
“So far, the chief executives of these agencies have not been in place, but of course, Mr President in his wisdom made the appointment a few weeks ago and they went through a rigorous process of confirmation at the National Assembly.
“The agencies have now taken off because they now have clear leadership and today’s event marks that beginning for the new agencies.”
What you should know
- Recall that the senate earlier in October, confirmed the appointments of the Chairman, Chief Executive and other board members of NURC and NMDPRA
- The Federal Government had earlier announced the setting up of the Nigerian Upstream Regulatory Commission and the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority to take over the responsibilities of DPR following the signing of the Petroleum Industry Act by President Muhammadu Buhari.
- The Federal Government had in August, inaugurated the steering committee that would implement the PIA.
What a beautiful development! but what we expect now of these new bodies is transparency and an adequate delivery of their assigned duties with respect to the tenets of the PIA. The future of the Oil sector would be determined by their expertise and innovations brought forward.