Benjamin Babine, Abuja
Comrade Osifo Festus of Total Nigeria Plc has emerged the new President of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) defeating his sole challenger, Comrade Roland Frederick of Shell Petroleum.
Osifo who is the 16th President of PENGASSAN, was declared the winner of the election in the early hours of Friday, 28th August. A total of 384 delegates drawn from the association’s branches nation wide participated in the 6th Triennial National Delegates Conference held at the NAF Conference Center in Abuja.
Duru Mathew of the Nigerian National Petroleum Commission (NNPC) emerged as Deputy President while Victor Ononokpono, of the Petroleum Product Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) emerged again as National Treasurer.
Meanwhile, Prior to the Elections, the outgoing President of PENGASSAN, Engr. Ndukaku Michael Ohaeri, speaking at the delegates conference, called on the Federal government to give the passage of Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) its urgent attention.
He said: “We encourage the National Assembly to resolve the challenges that have characterized the non passage of the PIB in the past.
“The non-passage of the PIB has denied Nigeria lots of benefits that could have accrued to it from the hydrocarbon industry. Nigeria has lost so much revenue that could have accrued to the government coffer, as existing Investments are stalled and potential investors scared of coming.
“It beats our imagination that many countries that started this same process of legislation for their Oil and Gas industry behind Nigeria have completed same and now savouring the taste of the exercise.
“We appeal to the Government, especially the Technical Committee putting finishing touches to the new PIB to ensure greater stakeholder engagement to improve the final outcome of the bill before being sent to the NationalAssembly for consideration and passage.
“The passage of this very important piece of legislation will give room for meaningful progress to be made in the Oil and Gas industry in particular and Nigeria in general.”