Nigeria’s Department of Petroleum Resources, the arm charged with the regulation of the country’s oil and gas industry has released Guidelines for the release of staff in the Nigerian oil and gas industry. The Guidelines titled Guidelines No. 1 of 2015 for the Release of Staff in the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry was signed by the erstwhile Director of the department, George Osahon, and is meant to establish the procedure for obtaining the consent of the Honourable Minister of Petroleum Resources for the release of any worker employed by an oil company.
Provisions of the Guidelines
Paragraph 5.0 requires every employer who wishes to release a worker from its employment, prior to such release, to apply for consent, in writing to the Director of the Department stating the manner of staff release, the reasons for the proposed release, the compensation due to the worker, and the proposed replacement of the worker (if any). Paragraph 5.3 prohibits the release of any worker by any employer without the prior consent of the Minister through the Director, provided that the employer shall only be required to notify the Department of the release of a worker where the worker retires, resigns, dies, or abandons their duty post.
After receiving the application for consent, Paragraph 5.4 requires the Department to conduct and investigative inquiry into the proposed staff release and make a decision on whether to grant consent or otherwise. To this extent, the employer shall not advertise, publish or make a press release in respect of the release of the worker prior to the Department’s decision.
With respect to existing workers, Paragraph 4.2 of the Guidelines requires every employer, within 60 days of the enactment of the Guidelines, to submit to the Director of the Department, the following information on its current employees: name, date of birth, date of commencement of employment, designation at commencement of employment, current designation and one coloured passport sized photograph of the worker.
With respect to new workers, Paragraph 4.1 of the Guidelines requires every employer to within 7 days of the employment of the new worker, submit to the Director of the Department the following information: name of the worker, date of birth, date of commencement of employment, designation at commencement of employment and one coloured size passport photograph.
Application of the Guidelines
The Guidelines is to apply to every employer. Paragraph 2.0 defines an employer as “any organisation, company, partnership, or registered business name which holds an oil mining lease, licence or permit (or an interest therein) issued under the Petroleum Act or under Regulations made thereunder or any person registered to provide any services in relation thereto”. By this definition, the Guidelines is to apply to both upstream and downstream companies as well as service firms.
A worker is also defined as any person employed by an employer as defined above.
Penalties for breach
The Guidelines prescribes draconian penalties for breach of the provisions of the Guidelines. The penalty for failure to seek the Department’s consent prior to release includes a fine of Ten Million Naira, suspension or cancellation of lease, licence or permit. The penalty for publication of information on staff release prior to consent of DPR is Five Million Naira, and the fine for the failure to implement the Department’s decision on staff release is Five Million Naira and suspension of lease, licence or permit.
