Oil workers warn FG against selling oil and gas asset to fund 2018 budget

macfranc007 November 09, 2017 Nigeria News today & Breaking news ▷ Read Nigerian newspapers 24/7 Oluwatobi Bolashodun

- Oil workers, under the aegis of Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), have issued a note of warning to the Federal Government

- PENGASSAN has kicked against the federal government's attempt at selling oil and gas assets to fund the 2018 budget

- The oil workers said they would support any other funding to bridge the deficit in the 2018 budget proposal

The Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) on Wednesday, November 8, warned the federal government against selling oil and gas assets to fund the 2018 budget.

NAIJ.com gathered that PENGASSAN’s national public relations officer, Fortune Obi, reacting to a report on plans by the government to sell oil and gas asset to fund the budget, said they would support any other funding model to bridge the over N2 trillion deficit in the budget proposal.

He also urged the National Assembly to reject any move to dispose of any facility, pointing out that doing otherwise would not be in the nation’s interest.

Oil workers oppose planned sale of oil, gas asset to fund budget

President Muhammadu Buhari presenting the 2018 budget at the National Assembly

The public relations officer recalled that the idea of disposing of oil and gas industry asset to raise funds was rejected by Nigerians when it was first debated in 2016.

He described the latest reported plan as a ploy to hand over the country’s commonwealth to a few individuals and further impoverish majority of Nigerians.

“Instead of selling those assets, the government should look for other ways of funding the budget, such as plugging loopholes and leakages in government’s finances,

“We will not allow the commonwealth of the country to be given away to cronies of the government all in the name of sale of the assets in the industry to fund the budget.

“The Government should critically evaluate the assets and look at their viability and profitability. Profitable assets such as NLNG and shares in the upstream oil and gas JV operations that have become huge revenue earners for the country, should be kept by the government to the benefit of majority of Nigerians.

PENGASSAN restated its advice to government to repair asset that are in state of disrepair, rather than sell them as scrap to some “opportunists in the clothes of businessmen and short-sighted politicians.”

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In a previous report by NAIJ.com, the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry warned that the Nigerian economy would lose an estimated N150 billion daily, if the proposed strike by Natural Gas Workers Senior Staff Association (PENGASAN) and the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) is not averted.

Muda Yusuf, the director-general of LCCI, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday, October 9, in Lagos state.

Yusuf said that it would not be a good development for an economy that was just emerging from recession.

Are Nigerians truly tired of President Buhari? - on NAIJ.com TV.