Comrade Festus Osifo, President of PENGASSAN, speaking at the NEC meeting in Lagos.
…The budget is just $30 billion and low when compared with what is obtainable in different parts of the world.
…It is a deficit budget where the country is borrowing and spending over 90% of its revenue to service debt.
…Significant agencies should not be manned with politicians while the president should put square pegs on square holes to man NERC and Ministry of Power.
…PENGASSAN wants those that are saddled with responsibility of Ministry of Petroleum to fix all the refineries.
…Properly management of FOREX will reduce prices of PMS.
-Felix Douglas
It was a busy day for Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), during its National Executive Council (NEC) meeting in Lagos.
Speaking to journalists at the NEC meeting, the President of PENGASSAN, Comrade Festus Osifo, highlighted cogent issues bothering the country.
“We have rightly highlighted in our NEC meeting of 2024 in December at Abuja but the expectations have not been met. Those issues bothering on economic challenges, high cost of food, dearth in our social infrastructure and insecurity were with us in 2023 and they are still with us today.”
Osifo pointed out that the budget of 2025 was presented late last year in December. “The budget that was presented for us, we feel that as an association, that Nigeria as a country, does not have a business with having a budget of 49 trillion naira because it may sound big. This is the highest in terms of the country’s budgetary allocation and we all know what the effect of devaluation has done to us hence 49 trillion Naira is barely $30 billion.”
Comparing it with budget of 2024 which was less than 30 trillion naira, the real value was quite higher than the value of budget 2025.
Nigeria is over 230 million people and a budget of $30 billion is abysmal and low for the country when compared with what is obtainable in different parts of the world.
“South Africa has a population of 60 million, and the country’s budget is over $120 billion that means with a population size that is approximately 25% of Nigerian population, but with a budget that is times four of the Nigerian budget size.”
Nigeria is fixated because at present, it lacks social amenities and infrastructure, considering the budget, if it is put on federal roads alone, it will require such budget for the next four years.
According to the PENGASSAN boss, taking a look at a study that was done by a former Minister of works with some experts on federal roads; it will cost about $120 billion to fix them. Which means the current $30 billion budget can’t even fix roads, pay salaries, and do anything in education and health.
For a country that is endowed with human, material and mineral resources, it should be talking about a budget size of $200 billion to harvest the resources that it is blessed with. “Even with the $30 billion, the revenue that the government is going to generate will be probably less than 50% of it.
Therefore, PENGASSAN called on the government, to expand its revenue base. “But that expansion of revenue base must be how to harness our material and mineral resources. The country is extremely blessed with huge mineral resources that could generate jobs for its population, create and add value to them.
It is a deficit budget where the country is borrowing humongous amount of money, and spending over 90% of its revenue to service debt. “There is no country that will make meaningful progress by spending 90% of its revenue in servicing debt.”
“As a people, we must be able to examine what government is doing and proffer solutions to them.”
Tax Reform Bills
Osifo spoke on the four tax reform bills which are with the National Assembly.
“We are collating facts around it that will be presented to government and the National Assembly.”
We are calling on the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, as well as the House of Representatives, that public hearing should not just be jamboree”
Public hearing naturally is for information to be collated and data to be analysed and form input to the bill. But we are concerned that in Nigeria, public hearing is just a show whereby they listen to you and they go ahead to do exactly what they have planned to do.”
Current collapse in national grid
The PENGASSAN President lamented that in 2024 alone, national grid collapsed more than 12 times. “This is a shame to us as a country; we cannot generate sufficient Megawatts (MW) to power our homes.
Unfortunately, the country could only generate 3000 to 4000 MW since 1999, it’s being hovering around it and billions of dollars have been spent without valuable improvement while consistently faced with grid collapses. This is not acceptable.
In 2025, the country has also witnessed first grid collapse and it is not known how many will be witnessed before the end of the year.
“We hereby call for the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, to do everything possible to ensure that our electricity infrastructure are well protected to tap into the vast human resources that we have in Nigeria, to put the best feet forward, to get our first 11 to man that ministry so that at the end of the day, we will have the best of it.”
Nigeria is a country that is blessed with enormous human resources, great intellectuals and cannot man its agencies with people that are less qualified. Significant agencies should not be manned with politicians who have nothing to offer.
The president must look at those that are saddled with the responsibility of manning Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) and Ministry of Power with utmost urgency.
State of the Refineries
The PENGASSAN President spoke about the commencement of Warri refinery which gladdens the heart of many Nigerians. He said PENGASSAN will continue to pressurize the government until all the countries state owned refineries are working.
“On the Kaduna refinery, a lot of work is being done and rehabilitation of the new Port Harcourt refinery as well.
PENGASSAN is calling also on those that are manning the Ministry of Petroleum, and those saddled with the responsibility of fixing the refineries, to get all of them to work.
“As we have noted severally, that beyond being energy secured, it is going to provide a lot of primary and secondary jobs.”
It gives opportunity of getting foreign exchange when the refineries are working because the value chain is enormous.
Answering questions from journalists at the NEC meeting, Osifo identified the foreign exchange (FOREX) rate as the primary factor influencing the high cost of petrol in Nigeria.
According to him, “the high pump prices of petroleum products are directly tied to FOREX. If the naira strengthens to less than N1,000 per dollar, PMS could be sold for less than N600 per liter.”
Also, crude oil allocated to local refineries is priced in Naira, the value is pegged to the international dollar benchmark because equipment used in oil exploration and production is procured in dollars making it a USD-based business.
Osifo advised that if local refineries operate efficiently, it will reduce costs and properly management of FOREX will go long way to put things in right perspective.
One of the reasons why there are issues is because of foreign exchange as the naira continues to fall and only resuscitation can help all stakeholders involved.
He asserted that PENGASSAN worked assiduously to ensure that the divestment processes did not negatively affect its members and Nigerian oil employees working in those companies were neither sacked nor retrenched. They got their rightful entitlements and are absorbed by the beneficiaries of those divestments.
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