National PENGASSAN President Under Fire As NMDPRA Union Crisis Deepens

National PENGASSAN President Under Fire As NMDPRA Union Crisis Deepens

For months, if not years, unionized staff of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) have cried out over the rot festering in their branch of PENGASSAN — and the silence from the top has become deafening.

At the heart of the controversy is the continued operation of an expired and illegitimate Branch Executive Council (BEC) — a leadership that has long overstayed its welcome, is no longer made up of financial members, and now includes individuals who have crossed into management ranks. By PENGASSAN’s own constitution, such a BEC should have ceased to exist.

Despite this, the National President of PENGASSAN has remained disturbingly aloof. Multiple formal letters, petitions, and internal memos from NMDPRA staff rejecting the current EXCO have gone ignored or dismissed. Even more troubling, there are growing suspicions — now gaining ground among members — that the National President is not just inactive, but colluding with the illegitimate BEC and Management to undermine genuine unionism within the Authority.

“How do you explain a National Union President refusing to dissolve a Branch EXCO that has clearly violated the union’s constitution?” asks one senior union member who requested anonymity. “What we are witnessing is not oversight — it is complicity.”

The consequences of this neglect are real and damaging.
• No congress has been held in over a year.
• No elections have been conducted even though the Abuja Chapter Chairman’s seat has been vacant for more than 90 days.
• And worst of all, Management continues to hold closed-door meetings with the expired EXCO, allowing them to collect allowances and benefits in the name of workers who no longer recognize them.

Meanwhile, the National President continues to speak glowingly of union progress at conferences and on social media — while the erosion of democracy, representation, and accountability within the NMDPRA branch accelerates.

Members are now openly calling it what it is: a betrayal.

“We now believe the National President is aiding this decay. By refusing to intervene, he is helping Management water down our union while the EXCOs pocket benefits and travel on our behalf,” another member stated.

The optics are damning. The silence from the top is inexcusable.

What’s at stake here is not just the integrity of one branch — but the soul of PENGASSAN itself. If union leaders at the national level can turn a blind eye to constitutional breaches, collude with management, and support handpicked stooges, then what future is there for genuine, people-led unionism in Nigeria?

The members of NMDPRA are no longer begging for change.

They are demanding it.

And they are watching.

The concerned members of NMDPRA had in a letter obtained exclusively by SayNaija.Com, notified the NEC of PENGASSAN of continuous breach of PENGASSAN constitution and called for election which the PENGASSAN lead by Osifo has turned blind eye to.