The House of Representatives Committee on Petroleum Resources (Downstream) has strongly rejected recent calls for the dismissal of the Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) and the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), describing such demands as inconsistent with the provisions of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), 2021.
This position was made known in a statement issued at the end of a strategic committee meeting held in Abuja and presided over by the committee chairman, Hon. Ikenga Imo Ugochinyere.
According to Ugochinyere, the PIA was designed to ensure leadership stability within the petroleum regulatory agencies, as part of efforts to provide consistency in policy implementation, drive sectoral reforms, and attract sustained investment into Nigeria’s oil and gas industry.
He said any attempt to truncate the tenures of the current CEOs of NMDPRA and NUPRC outside the provisions of the PIA would amount to a breach of the law, undermine regulatory independence, and risk damaging investor confidence.
“The Petroleum Industry Act clearly outlines the tenure and conditions for the removal of the CEOs of the regulatory bodies. Any move that seeks to sideline those provisions is not only illegal but detrimental to the sector’s growth,” Ugochinyere said.
He emphasised that while the government has a responsibility to hold public officeholders accountable, such accountability must be pursued in line with legal frameworks and due process, rather than through politically motivated campaigns.
“Any official found to have acted inappropriately should be dealt with in accordance with the law. However, the blanket call for the sack or dissolution of leadership without due process undermines the autonomy of these regulatory bodies and threatens to derail ongoing reforms,” he added.
Ugochinyere further credited the regulatory agencies with significant progress since their establishment under the PIA, noting that their stability and operational clarity have attracted substantial foreign and local investment into Nigeria’s energy sector.
“Since the advent of the PIA, the NMDPRA and the NUPRC have carried out their mandates effectively. The reforms they’ve implemented have created a more transparent, investor-friendly environment, with investment inflows exceeding $20 billion since their inception,” he noted.
The lawmaker called on President Bola Tinubu to disregard what he termed “distracting calls” for leadership changes and instead support the ongoing regulatory consolidation efforts, which, according to him, are key to sustaining the progress recorded so far in the petroleum sector.
He also urged stakeholders in the industry to focus on constructive engagement with the regulatory agencies to resolve operational concerns rather than resorting to actions that may cause disruptions in the regulatory framework.
The NMDPRA and NUPRC were created under the PIA to serve as independent regulators for Nigeria’s petroleum sector, overseeing operations in the midstream, downstream, and upstream segments respectively.
The Act stipulated fixed tenures for their chief executives, aimed at fostering independence, professionalism, and continuity in the sector’s administration.
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