By Saidu Abubakar
A renown Petroleum Economist, Professor Wumi Iledare has observed that the calls for a review of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) just four years after its passage must go beyond superficial amendments and focus squarely on correcting structural governance flaws.
Making the observation in a statement he issued, the Professor Emeritus noted that without transparency, accountability, and clearly defined roles across the three anchor institutions — policy, regulatory, and commercial — the promise of the PIA will remain unfulfilled.
“It is deeply concerning that the policy institution is effectively domiciled in the Presidency, rendering the Ministry of Petroleum Resources largely ineffectual,” he added in the statement.
Equally troubling, he said further, is the continued absence of properly constituted Boards of Directors for the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) and the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), undermining institutional independence and effectiveness.
He further stated that while NNPC Limited is making strides commercially, its operations remain entangled in political and sentimental undertones. “The frequent presence of its Group Chief Executive Officer in the media, issuing policy-laced statements, blurs the line between commercial focus and political theatre”.
Professor Iledare inferred that what Nigeria needs is not a transactional revision of the PIA, but a fundamental correction of the implementation missteps — chiefly, the governance structure errors inherited from the Buhari administration and the transactionalism that has since emerged.
“Let us get the governance right before we reach for the scalpel,” Professor Iledare who is also the Executive Director, EFF voiced out point blank.