The federal government has assured that none of the 1,500 employees of the defunct Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) and Petroleum Equalisation Fund (PEF) would lose their jobs following the scrapping of the three agencies.
The minister of state for petroleum resources, Mr. Timipre Sylva, stated this yesterday at a meeting with employees of the affected organisations in Abuja.
“We assure you that this is a very normal transition. The PIA has been passed and the law stipulates that certain actions must be taken.
“That the DPR, as it was then, must be wound down and two successor agencies are to be inaugurated. And, of course, I had to step down as chairman of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). It is all because this is what the law states,” he said.
Sylva further said the political leaderships of the defunct agencies would have to give way for the newly appointed chief executives of the successor agencies.
“But I want to assure you that the staff has nothing to worry about because the law is very clear also on the position of the staff of DPR, PEF and PPPRA,” he added.
The minister who supervised the handing over ceremonies at the agencies also announced that he had ceased to function as the chairman of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation,
Although he did not give the exact number of workers in the agencies, it was gathered that the defunct DPR had 610 staff at of 2020; PPPRA and PEF, 400 apiece.
Recall that Sylva had earlier in the week announced the winding up of the DPR, PPPRA and PEF in accordance with the Petroleum Industry Act.
He also inaugurated the boards of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority and the Nigerian Upstream Regulatory Commission, the successor agencies of the scrapped DPR, PPPRA and PEF.
