By Oboh Agbonkhese

Workers in the upstream sub-sector of the oil and gas industry have said Federal Government must seek alternative ways of funding Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, joint venture, JV, operations with oil companies.

Speaking on behalf of the workers, Chairman, Producers’ Forum, PF, of Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria, PENGASSAN, Mr. Emmanuel Onuorah, suggested incorporated joint venture, IJV, similar to the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas, NLNG, model; traditional JV with government reducing its interest; service contract, with oil companies as contractors or tax-based systems, where government detaches itself totally from operations in the sector and raises revenue from taxation.

Meanwhile, Senator Magnus Abe has described subsidy as legalised fraud, saying: “If we are going to have a PIB, we need to have it as quickly as possible, if not, we need to let the international community and the industry know so people can understand the terms under which to continue their investments.”

Speaking at the PF briefing in Lagos, Senator Abe said Nigeria do not have the kind of businessmen that will fail to exploit the loopholes provided by the law-backed subsidy regime.

He said: “There is too much impunity in the sector. It is not a question of subsidy removal, it is about the kind of subsidy we are running. Is it something we can sustain in the long term?

“We are blessed because President Muhammadu Buhari comes with a lot of advantages. He has been involved in this sector several times.

“So I think he has a clear idea of what has to be done. When he says this is what we should do, Nigerians should do it.”

Mr. Onuorah said for a venture that accounts for over 60 percent of the country’s crude production, where NNPC has a larger chunk of the proceeds, government defaulting in payment of counterpart funding and owing oil companies billions of dollars meant workers lose their jobs and welfare packages.