Comrade Igbini Odafe Emmanuel, a veteran labour leader, an experienced engineer of one of the international oil companies operating in Nigeria and an activist for good governance and democracy, in this interview expressed his unhappiness with the failure of President Tinubu, in his capacity as substantive minister of petroleum resources, to fix the rots and crude oil thefts in the upstream petroleum sector.

He also insists that it is the constitutional duty of the National Assembly to compel President Tinubu and Management of NNPCL and NUPRC to bring about sanity and accountability to the upstream petroleum sector and in the oil companies. He took a swipe at the NNPCL for condemning the National Assembly’s invitations of employees of oil companies for investigations, maintaining also that NNPCL has no power to declare state-of-emergency on the petroleum sector and has no justified reason to do so, just as he says the NUPRC is also wrong to rush into sales of Oil Blocks, revenue generations rather than focus on its regulatory duties. He also spoke about the deadlock on minimum wage.

As a former labour leader, what is your reaction to the continued deadlock between the federal government and labour unions over new minimum wage?

It is sad that both parties are not sincere with each other, and not approaching the issue with open mind. They are both guilty of misleading Nigerian workers to believing that their living standard will improve only with a new minimum wage. There is no doubt that given the terrible state of our national economy and with the naira on free fall against other international currencies which has made it almost worthless, a minimum wage of even N250, 000 will not even be too much to ask for and approved. But the big question I have continued to ask our labour leaders is: “Where will the money to pay the new minimum wage come from?” It is more of the responsibility of the labour leaders to identify the source of this funding and in sustainable manner than it is the responsibility of that of the FG, state governments and employers in the private sector.

I am surprised that you are shifting this burden to the labour leaders rather than to the federal government, state governors and employers in organised private sector. Are you being fair to the labour leaders?

I am not being unfair to our labour leaders or shifting any burden to them. In my days as labour leader at then Elf Petroleum Nig. Ltd that has now become TotalEnergies E&P Nig. Ltd, I acted as co-manager with members of the management to help ensure that the company is administered strictly in line with its code of conduct and ethics for improved productivity and economic prosperity in order to justify workers’ requests for increase in salaries and allowances. If the companies or country economically collapses, will there be constitutional and moral authority for labour leaders to demand for payment of salaries and allowances let alone increases?

Do they expect their employers to go run into debts to pay them? In summary, what I am saying is that labour leaders should mobilise their members to make sure their employers manage their companies in responsible way to ensure growth and economic prosperity. Just imagine how our nation’s four petroleum refineries were allowed to be grounded by a few unpatriotic elites leading to unjustified increases in prices of petroleum products which have also resulted in skyrocketing of prices of goods and services across the country beyond the reach of workers and Nigerians.  Couldn’t these refineries have been saved if the workers and labour leaders rose to act as co-managers to ensure they are well managed and operating optimally?

Now that you have brought in the petroleum sector and blamed the collapsed state of our nation’s economy on these moribund refineries, shouldn’t Nigerians blame you for advising President Tinubu to appoint himself the minister of petroleum resources? 

No, I should be lauded rather than blamed. This is because given the magnitude of massive looting, frauds and crude oil theft perpetrated in the oil companies for many decades now which has gone beyond the capacities of the appointed substantive ministers of petroleum resources to address and put a halt to, and also given the implication of these crimes on our national security, it is clear to me that only the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Nigeria in collaboration with the National Assembly, has the constitutional power to declare full scale war on those behind these acts of petro-terrorism. Recall that several published national and international reports have exposed the fact that top expatriate and Nigerian employees of these oil companies are also part of this group of crude oil thieves.

But with President Tinubu as the Minister of Petroleum Resources, these crimes have remain unabated instead it is worsening to the extent that few days ago the management of NNPCL had to declare a state-of-emergency on this petroleum sector

Yes, it is true what you said and just to remind you that I also advised former President Buhari to appoint himself, minister of petroleum resources for the same reason I advised President Tinubu, but Buhari also failed in this capacity. And the question people ask me is: why did they both failed? The reasons they both failed as ministers of petroleum resources are: (1) they are unable to pay frequent onsite visits to these fields and refineries but rely only on what they are told which are often misleading.

(2) The National Assembly has often been blackmailed against exercising its full constitutional powers to summon the President as minister of petroleum resources and the management of NNPCL, NUPRC and all the oil companies to appear before it to give accounts of their operations and revenues and expenditures.

(3) NNPCL and the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) that are very critical government agencies have failed because they refuse to patriotically rise to carry out their lawful duties to ensure accountability, transparency and adherence to global code of conduct and ethics in this sector and in the oil companies, rather they are more interested in sales of rich oil-blocks, importation of petroleum products, claiming to be investing in more oil exploration and exploitation activities and the war against crude oil theft. Who are they deceiving? Who are the crude oil thieves in such magnitude of millions of barrels and how do they steal the crude oil? I will continue to insist that the establishment of NNPCL is the worst thing to have happened to the Nigerian Petroleum Sector and should urgently be scrapped by the National Assembly that created it. We should revert to the former NNPC structure and carry out overhaul of the personnel and the Management. Any senior management personnel of questionable records and dedication to duty be summarily sacked while some staff who were said to have been forced to proceed on early retirement in order to pave the way for the shenanigan in NNPCL, be recalled and placed on long term contracts to help guide young and fresh Nigerians to be recruited to take over.

 The NUPRC should also be overhauled and fresh appointments be made on merit and only Nigerians with proven track records of patriotism and incorruptibility and many years of field experiences in the core exploration and production departments of any of the International oil companies be appointed. They must be Nigerians who have been known to have resisted and opposed the massive frauds and looting taking place in their IOCs. NURPC should be excluded from sales of oil blocks and revenue generation; in fact, it is wrong for anyone to turn NUPRC into a revenue generating commission. It must remain as a regulatory commission in order to effectively monitor and ensure strict compliance with global industry regulation and guidelines by the oil companies and NNPC 

Just to draw your attention to reports, few days ago of management of NNPCL accusing the National Assembly of being responsible for the hobbling in upstream petroleum sector which they ascribed to incessant invitations the National Assembly extends to management of the petroleum companies to appear before it. Do you agree with the NNPCL on this?

This is the worst insult and disrespect on our National Assembly and Nigeria by any agency of government or employee of any of the oil companies operating in Nigeria. This must be taken very seriously by the National Assembly and whoever made that accusation be seriously sanctioned to serve as deterrent to others. How dare any employee, irrespective of the position he or she occupies in any of these oil companies operating in Nigeria, delays or refuses to honour Invitations of the U.S Congress or Legislative Arms of other countries? It is only in Nigeria that we see employees who are merely occupying positions in management cadre of the oil companies disregard invitations by committees of our National Assembly and nothing happens to them yet these same Managing Directors and Management Staff of these oil companies fly into Abuja to frequently go and pay unsolicited visits to management of NNPCL and NUPRC because they seek their approvals for oil blocks and fraudulent expenditures that Nigerians are made to pay at least 60% of because we hold such percentage in our joint venture partnership with the companies. Are the heads of the NNPCL and NUPRC not creation of the National Assembly and answerable to it as per its oversight powers over both agencies of Nigeria?

So how do you advise the National Assembly to address this disrespect by the NNPCL and staff of these oil companies?

The leadership of the National Assembly should henceforth invoke its full constitutional powers to sanction the management of these oil companies and those of NNPCL and NUPRC whenever their invitations are not honoured. The licenses of any of the oil companies should immediately be withdrawn through the NUPRC if any of their Managing Directors or management staff of these companies refuse to honour invitation of the National Assembly or any of its Committees. The employees of these oil companies are avoiding the National Assembly and its committees because they don’t want to be exposed for the many and unending massive frauds and crude oil theft they engage in. There are so many petitions from Nigerians against these employees of these oil companies pending at the National Assembly yet these same management staff blame crude oil theft and other economic sabotages on Nigerians, particularly the youths and people of the oil producing Niger Delta Region. These lies must stop!