Suspended NMDPRA Staff Drag PENGASSAN to Court Over Caretaker Committee, Alleged Breach of Constitution

Fifteen senior staff members of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) have taken the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) to court over their suspension and the appointment of a caretaker committee to oversee the union’s NMDPRA branch in Abuja.

The aggrieved workers, suing for themselves and on behalf of concerned members of the NMDPRA branch, filed the suit at the National Industrial Court in Abuja. The case, marked NICN/ABJ/307/2025, challenges the legality of the caretaker committee constituted by PENGASSAN’s national leadership.

In their suit, the claimants are asking the court to declare that, under the PENGASSAN Constitution (2022), no caretaker committee may administer a branch of the association for more than three months, within which a valid branch election must be conducted. They further seek an order nullifying any decisions or actions taken by the caretaker committee beyond the constitutional time frame.

The defendants in the case include PENGASSAN, its National President, Festus Osifo; General Secretary, Lumumba Okugbawa; and members of the caretaker committee — Tony Izogba, Gbolahan Akinyo, Okechukwu Nwanko, Abba Safana, and Polycarp Ihejirika.

The legal action marks a fresh twist in the ongoing crisis within the NMDPRA branch of PENGASSAN, which has witnessed the suspension of over 40 members by the union’s national leadership in recent months. The dispute adds to a growing list of internal union conflicts, as PENGASSAN is currently facing similar controversies in its Shell, Chevron, and Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) branches.

In a related development, the National Industrial Court sitting in Lagos has ordered all parties involved in the leadership dispute at the Chevron branch of PENGASSAN to maintain peace and cooperate with the court’s directives. Presiding Judge, Justice Joyce Onugba-Damachi, issued the order while hearing a suit filed by seven Chevron senior staff members challenging the dissolution of their branch executive committee and the installation of a caretaker committee.

The Chevron branch crisis mirrors the situation at NMDPRA, where several members have denounced the caretaker committee appointed by PENGASSAN’s National Secretariat as unconstitutional, undemocratic, and a breach of the union’s internal rules.

As the matter proceeds before the National Industrial Court, stakeholders within the oil and gas industry are closely watching developments that could redefine union governance and internal democracy within one of Nigeria’s most influential labor bodies.