The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Tajudeen Abbas, has called for stronger corporate accountability and effective legislative oversight of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd), warning that its commercial independence must not come at the expense of public accountability.
Abbas said the success of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) would depend not merely on its legal provisions but on effective implementation, institutional discipline and the willingness of relevant stakeholders to fulfil their responsibilities.
The Speaker, who was represented by the House Leader, Rep. Julius Ihonvbere, stated this on Monday in Abuja at the opening of a three-day retreat on Petroleum Industry Act Implementation: The PIA, Corporate Governance and Legislative Oversight, organised by NNPC Ltd in collaboration with the Office of the Speaker.
Describing the PIA as one of Nigeria’s most consequential economic legislations, Abbas said the law was designed to establish a transparent, commercially viable, accountable and investment-friendly petroleum industry.
He, however, questioned the extent to which its objectives had been achieved five years after its enactment.
“Five years down the line, the central question is how much of that promise we have translated into practice,” he said.
Abbas noted that the transformation of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation into NNPC Ltd, the establishment of regulatory institutions and the introduction of a framework for host community development were major components of the reforms intended to address longstanding challenges in the petroleum sector.
He stressed that the passage of a reform law did not automatically translate into successful implementation.
According to him, the transition of NNPC Ltd into a commercially oriented company was expected to improve operational efficiency, attract investment and maximise value from Nigeria’s petroleum resources.
“But commercial autonomy must be accompanied by corporate accountability. The freedom to make commercial decisions must go hand in hand with responsibility for their consequences,” he said.
The Speaker explained that government, management and the legislature had distinct but complementary responsibilities in ensuring effective governance of state-owned commercial enterprises.
While government, as shareholder, must protect the public interest, he said management should retain the professional independence to make commercial decisions and take responsibility for performance.
He added that the legislature must ensure that national assets remained subject to constitutional and statutory accountability.
Abbas clarified that legislative oversight was not intended to interfere arbitrarily in legitimate commercial operations but to ensure compliance with statutory mandates, protect public resources and strengthen institutional performance.
“The legislature’s responsibility is not to substitute parliamentary judgment for management decisions or interfere arbitrarily in legitimate commercial operations. It is to ensure that statutory mandates are respected, governance obligations are fulfilled, public resources are protected and the institutions established by law deliver on their responsibilities,” he said.
He maintained that effective oversight should strengthen governance without undermining operational efficiency, stressing the need to move beyond retrospective investigations to institutional learning, early intervention and improved performance.
Highlighting the 10th House’s engagement with the petroleum industry, Abbas recalled a two-day retreat held in April 2024 on economic transformation and development, with particular attention to the implementation of the PIA and tax reforms.
He also cited engagements by the House Committee on Petroleum Resources (Midstream) in Port Harcourt and Lagos in June 2026, which examined operational challenges, regulatory performance, domestic gas utilisation and the protection of critical energy infrastructure.
The Speaker further disclosed that the House had sustained investigations into crude oil theft, pipeline surveillance arrangements and measures to strengthen the security of petroleum infrastructure.
“We recognise that the protection of national petroleum assets is not merely an industry concern; it is an economic and national security imperative,” he added.
He identified production constraints, crude oil theft, pipeline vandalism, infrastructure deficiencies, investment uncertainty and regulatory bottlenecks as some of the major challenges confronting the industry.
Abbas also called for adequate crude oil supplies to domestic refineries without compromising the commercial viability of upstream operations.
On natural gas, he said unlocking Nigeria’s vast potential would require sustained infrastructure investment, appropriate commercial arrangements and regulatory certainty.
“These challenges cannot be addressed by legislation alone. They demand consistent implementation, institutional coordination, credible regulatory enforcement and investor confidence,” he said.
He urged participants to critically examine whether NNPC Ltd’s corporate structure was delivering the transparency, efficiency and commercial discipline envisaged by the PIA, while identifying governance gaps requiring legislative or institutional intervention.
Abbas said the retreat should produce concrete outcomes, including identifying implementation gaps, strengthening legislative engagement, improving collaboration between House committees and NNPC Ltd, and establishing a framework for monitoring agreed actions.
He cautioned against the assumption that every implementation challenge required fresh legislation, insisting that existing provisions must first be effectively enforced where adequate.
“Where existing provisions are adequate but poorly implemented, our priority should be enforcement and institutional compliance. Where genuine legislative gaps or unintended consequences have emerged, the National Assembly must be prepared to consider appropriate amendments.
“Sometimes, what is needed is the faithful enforcement of the law already in place,” he said.
The Speaker maintained that the success of the PIA should be measured by increased crude oil production, greater investment, improved energy security, stronger domestic refining, enhanced revenue generation, employment opportunities and tangible benefits to host communities.
“Ultimately, the petroleum industry must work for the Nigerian people. That is the larger public purpose that must guide our collective efforts,” he said.
He reaffirmed the National Assembly’s commitment to supporting the economic reforms of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration through legislation, constructive engagement and rigorous oversight.
Abbas, while declaring the retreat open, expressed optimism that its deliberations would strengthen commitment to effective implementation of the PIA, noting that the law’s lasting legacy would be determined by its impact on the petroleum industry and the lives of Nigerians.
Adelabu seeks stronger institutional collaboration
Earlier, the Chief Executive Officer of 3 Streams Synergy Ltd, Doyin Adelabu, called for stronger institutional collaboration and accountability to ensure that the PIA delivers its intended benefits to Nigerians.
In her welcome remarks, Adelabu said five years after the Act came into force, stakeholders needed to assess the progress made in transforming NNPC Ltd into a commercially driven, transparent and accountable company.
“The Act sets out to turn NNPC into a commercially driven, transparent and accountable company, and to give the industry a governance framework that attracts investment and serves the Nigerian people,” she said.
She explained that the summit would examine NNPC Ltd’s corporate governance and accountability, as well as explore ways to strengthen legislative oversight and institutional collaboration.
Adelabu urged participants to engage frankly and identify practical solutions to the challenges affecting the implementation of the reforms.
“At 3 Streams Synergy, we believe reforms succeed when institutions and the people who run them have the capacity and the collaboration to deliver,” she added.
Salam seeks five-year review of PIA implementation
Also speaking, the Chairman of the House Committee on Public Accounts, Rep. Bamidele Salam, called for a comprehensive review of the PIA’s implementation five years after its enactment to identify gaps and improve its effectiveness.
Salam said the assessment should examine not only developments in the oil and gas industry but also the overall effectiveness of the landmark legislation.
Recalling the challenges that preceded the passage of the Act by the 9th National Assembly, he said the five-year milestone offered an opportunity to evaluate its achievements, identify shortcomings and determine necessary improvements.
“It is proper that after five years of implementation, that we have an opportunity to sit back and see what has worked, what hasn’t worked, and what do we need to do to make sure that we think out with the law in a manner that will make it more productive,” he said.
He urged stakeholders to identify successful practices that could be replicated to strengthen the petroleum industry.
Okunlola demands measurable gains from petroleum reforms
Similarly, the representative of the Chairman of the House Committee on Petroleum Resources (Midstream), Rep. Lanre Okunlola, said the transformation of NNPC Ltd must be assessed through measurable improvements in the petroleum sector.
He noted that the PIA was designed to strengthen corporate governance, attract investment, increase private sector participation, improve operational efficiency and promote host community development.
However, he insisted that the impact of the reforms must be evident in crude oil production, domestic refining capacity, petroleum supply security, revenue generation and operational transparency.
“The measure of transformation must go beyond legislative provisions and its shared reforms. It must reflect measurable improvement in crude oil production, domestic refined capacity, petroleum supply security, revenue generation and operational transparency and value creation for the Nigerian people,” he said.
Okunlola called for stronger collaboration among NNPC Ltd, regulatory institutions and the National Assembly, stressing that effective legislative oversight remained essential to accountability and the protection of public interest.
He said a successful transformation of NNPC Ltd should ultimately translate into improved energy security, job creation, national prosperity and better living conditions for Nigerians.
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