With the inauguration of new agencies FG scraps DPR, PPPRA, PEF 

19 Oct With the inauguration of new agencies FG scraps DPR, PPPRA, PEF 

With the formal inauguration of the leadership of the Nigerian Upstream Regulatory Commission (NURP) and the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), the Department of Petroleum Resources, the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency and the Petroleum Equalisation Fund are all officially scrapped and do not exist anymore, the Federal Government said on Monday.

Speaking on the sidelines of the inauguration of the chief executives of the NURP, Mr. Gbenga Komolafe and his counterpart at the NMDPRA, Mr. Farouk Ahmed, in Abuja Minister of State, Petroleum, Timipre Sylva, described the occasion as historic, saying it marked the beginning of a new era in the oil and gas industry.

On the fate of the preceding agencies, he explained that it remains a matter of law, noting that as the PIA states, all the assets and even the staff of the agencies would now be vested in the commission and on the authority.

“That means that the DPR will not have anything. It doesn’t exist anymore. It also repeals the DPR Act, the Petroleum Inspectorate Act and the Petroleum Equalisation Act and the PPPRA Act. The law specifically repeals them and it is clear that those agencies do not exist anymore.

“The law also provides for the staff and for the jobs in those agencies to be protected. But I am sure that unfortunately, that doesn’t cover the chief executive who was on a political appointment,” he pointed out.

The minister disclosed that the process of assigning and aligning affected staff was ongoing and would be completed in the coming weeks.

“That process will be ongoing because we have to rationalise the staff. The authority has staffing coming from the defunct PEF, PPPRA and the DPR and of course the commission staff will come from the DPR. That’s going to be the process that will be ongoing for the next few weeks or so,” he emphasised.

The new chief executive of the upstream commission, Komolafe, in his comments, assured that the enactment of the PIA would usher in a massive turnaround in the activities of the upstream that he was appointed to midwife.

“Nigerians should expect massive deliverables from the moment we take over in the sense that the PIA has ended a regime of uncertainty in terms of the governance of the industry.

“Basically, we shall focus on activities that enhance the production activities in the upstream in a manner that we will be able to hit our OPEC quota and will endeavour to ensure that we deliver to Nigerians a 21st century regulatory commission.

“We will not just be a regulator, we will be an enabler of investment. So, Nigeria should expect be part of what we actually plan under our watch,” he stressed.

On plans by the international oil companies (IOCs) to exit their onshore and shallow water operations, Komolafe stated that it remains purely an investment decision, but stressed that the commission would strive to engage the IOCs to understand their challenges.

“We will engage critically with them and if it becomes their decision to move from their onshore activities, what will be paramount to us is to look at their challenges and see how far we can intervene positively. Don’t forget the act makes the commission both technical and financial regulator.

“We will do more because investment decisions are commercial decisions and we will see how we can intervene. But it’s an investment decision borne out of certain considerations. We will try to know what those considerations are and intervene where we can.

“But the key is that we focus on activities that will expand and enhance production activities in a manner that we can be meeting our OPEC quota and as much as possible to optimise the federation revenue,” he noted.

Also speaking, the midstream and downstream boss, Farouk, promised to give a lot of attention to the development of the country’s enormous gas resources.

“The key area that you touched which is close to my heart is the gas development. This will lead to industrialisation, job creation and our main focus is to attract investment in gas. Of course, we need to work with the commission, the IOCs to invest in our hydrocarbons and more so in the gas sector because we have abundance of gas even more than the reserve of crude oil.

“Why do we have shortage of gas, maybe because there’s no investment? Why are we having challenges in investment, maybe because our pricing framework and other parameters that investors look at don’t measure up? The PIB stagnated for over 20 years and the investors were sitting on the fence waiting to see what direction things were going. Now everything is clear, thanks to the government.

“We will ride on that and create more opportunities for investment by going through the whole value chain for production to consumption in terms of fair pricing to all stakeholders,” he noted.

On his part, Auwalu remarked that the defunct DPR was willing to ensure a smooth takeover by the new agencies, stating that during week, meetings will be held to ensure a smooth transition.