The Federal Government has effectively put an end to the existence of the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA), and the Petroleum Equalisation Fund (PEF).
Following the passage and implementation of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), the Nigerian Upstream Regulatory Commission (NURC) and Nigerian Downstream and Midstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) are to perform the duties of the three defunct agencies.
Timipre Sylva, minister of state for petroleum resources, said this on Monday while inaugurating Gbenga Komolafe as the CEO of NURC and Farouk Ahmed as CEO of NMDPRA.
The move also includes the official transition of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation into NNPC Limited to be governed by an extant company and allied matter regulation.
Sylva said with the leadership of the new agencies in place, the heads of the old agencies are now technically handing over to their successors.
Responding to a question on what would happen to DPR following the inauguration of the board of NURC, Sylva said, “It is now a matter of law.
“The law states that all the assets and even the staff of the DPR are to be invested on the commission and also in the authority. So that means the DPR doesn’t exist anymore.
“And, of course, the law specifically repeals the DPR Act, the Petroleum Inspectorate Act, the Petroleum Equalisation Fund Act, and the PPPRA Act. The law specifically repeals them. It is very clear that those agencies do not exist anymore.”
On what would happen to the chief executives and employees of DPR, PEF, and PPPRA, the minister replied, “The law also provides for the staff and the jobs in those agencies to be protected.
“But I’m sure that that doesn’t cover, unfortunately, the chief executives, who were on political appointments.”
He stated that the process for aligning the workers of the defunct agencies with the new regulatory bodies had already commenced, as the staff had to be rationalised.
Also speaking at the event, Gbenga Komolafe, CEO of NURC, said the commission would deliver on its mandate as captured in the new petroleum act.
“Nigerians should expect massive deliverables in the sense that the PIA has ended the regime of uncertainty in terms of the governance of the industry,” he said.
Komolafe also said the commission would ensure that the country hits its OPEC quota in crude oil production, as the NURC would be an enabler of investments.
