• Says Executive Order 9 will hurt oil operations
• Tinubu, govs open talks with Labour over economy, EO9
• EO9 adds only N1.5tr to federation pool, says Ekiti commissioner

Despite the economy recording an inflation rate of 15.10 per cent for January 2025, Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) insists that poverty is deepening among Nigerians.
 
Meanwhile, President Bola Tinubu, yesterday, convened a high-level meeting with leaders of organised Labour and state governors at the State House, Abuja, to deliberate on workers’ welfare and the broader state of the economy.
 
However, the Chairman of the Forum of State Commissioners of Finance, Akintunde Oyebode, has said that President Bola Tinubu’s Executive Order 9 on the direct remittance of oil and gas revenues would add only about N1.5 trillion to the Federation Account.

A prominent Presidency source confirmed the engagement, describing it as part of ongoing consultations between the Federal Government and key socio-economic stakeholders.
  
“The President is meeting Labour leaders alongside the governors. It is about general labour issues and the economy,” the source said.
  
The talks came amid heightened debate within Labour circles over the recently signed EO9 and its potential implications for workers and public finance management.
  
Issued last week, the directive seeks to address identified financial irregularities in federation accounts, particularly within the oil and gas sector.
 
Government officials say the measure is designed to strengthen oversight of revenue flows, safeguard allocations to federal, state and local governments, and curb systemic leakages in the nation’s most critical revenue stream.
  
President of PENGASSAN, Festus Osifo, who stated this in Abuja yesterday at the National Executive Council (NEC) meeting of the labour group, faulted the data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), maintaining that the inflation figure does not reflect the economic realities in the country.
  
He argued that in various markets across the country, prices remain painfully high, disposable incomes are squeezed, and macroeconomic gains do not translate into food on the table.
  
The labour leader cautioned against premature celebrations for a rising Naira and falling inflation figures.
  
“If food moved from N5,000 to N10,000, that is 100 per cent inflation. If next year, it moves from N10,000 to N10,200, we celebrate that inflation has dropped. But the price is still double what it used to be. Nigerians are still feeling the heat,” he stated.
  
Indeed, while year-on-year inflation may be moderating, cumulative price jumps since 2023 have decreasingly altered household purchasing power.
  
Slowing inflation does not mean prices are falling; it means they are rising at a slower pace.
  
As insecurity ravages most parts of northern Nigeria, PENGASSAN urged both the federal and state governments to prioritise the adoption of technology to curb the menace.
  
With the decentralisation of the energy sector, PENGASSAN stated that federal and state governments no longer have an excuse not to invest in power generation, transmission, and distribution to boost development in their respective domains.
  
Again, on the controversial Executive Order 9 (EO9), recently issued by President Bola Tinubu, Osifo warned that certain provisions in the order could destabilise the oil and gas sector if not carefully reviewed.
  
Specifically, he explained that traditionally, 30 per cent of profit oil is tied to management fees used to fund operations and staff salaries at Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL).
  
PENGASSAN expressed fears that remitting such funds to the federation account without clarity of where to bridge the gap from could leave the sector vulnerable.
  
It stated: “If there is no stability in the industry, it will affect foreign exchange earnings. When foreign exchange earnings are affected, the value of the naira will be affected. If the naira weakens, it feeds inflation.”
  
While welcoming improvements in pipeline security and rising crude output, the union noted that sustained production growth would bolster government revenue and safeguard jobs across the petroleum value chain.
  
It reiterated its call for a majority 51 per cent ownership for the nation’s ailing refineries, saying that operational refineries would command higher valuations and ensure energy security.
OYEBODE argued that the bigger issue is enforcing constitutional custody of federation revenues and fixing leakages created by the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) framework.
  
While on Arise News yesterday, the Ekiti State Commissioner for Finance said: “In monetary terms, this is not even a significant increase to the federation account. In total, from the management fee, Frontier Exploration Fee (FEF) and the gas flaring penalties, we estimate that approximately N1.5 trillion will be added to the federation account.”
   
He added that even that figure must be seen against the scale of inflows into the Federation Account, saying, “If you assume that’s an account that gets upwards of N30 trillion yearly, you can do the maths. It’s a single-digit impact in terms of growth on the federation account.”