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A sweeping executive order signed by President Bola Tinubu earlier this month that strips the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited of its authority to deduct management and exploration fees before remitting oil revenues to the national treasury has drawn sharp legal opposition, with senior members of the Nigerian bar arguing the directive cannot lawfully override an act of the National Assembly, even as the Presidency insists the order is constitutionally grounded and will stand.
The order, formally titled the Presidential Executive Order to Safeguard Federation Oil and Gas Revenues and Provide Regulatory Clarity 2026 and gazetted on February 13, requires that all government entitlements from petroleum operations, including royalty oil, tax oil, profit oil, profit gas, and related revenues under Production Sharing Contracts, be remitted directly into the Federation Account. It also suspends NNPCL’s retention of a 30 percent management fee on profit oil and profit gas, halts contributions to the 30 percent Frontier Exploration Fund, and redirects gas flare penalties away from the Midstream Gas Infrastructure Fund.
The Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria staged a protest at NNPC Towers in Abuja, accusing the president of breaching the Petroleum Industry Act and warning that the order would undermine NNPCL’s capacity to fund core operations, including hydrocarbon exploration commitments budgeted for 2026. The union threatened further action unless the government reverses the measure.
The Presidency rejected that position firmly.
Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy Bayo Onanuga, responding to questions on Monday, said PENGASSAN had made a “knee-jerk reaction” without examining the constitutional basis for the directive. “PENGASSAN is focusing on PIA alone,” Mr. Onanuga said. “The President’s action is based on the Nigerian Constitution, which PIA violates in allowing the deductions that the President has now stopped. PIA is not superior to our constitution.” He said the order draws its legal authority from Section 5 of the 1999 Constitution, which vests executive powers of the Federation in the president, and from Section 44(3), which places ownership and control of all minerals, mineral oils, and natural gas in the hands of the federal government. The order, he said, was designed to reclaim revenue entitlements of the federal, state, and local governments that were “taken away in 2021 by the Petroleum Industry Act.”
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Special Adviser to the President on Media and Public Communications Sunday Dare reinforced that position in a separate statement published on his official social media account Monday, citing Section 80(1) of the Constitution, which requires all revenues received by the Federation to be deposited into the Consolidated Revenue Fund. Mr. Dare argued that Executive Order 9 neither creates new law nor amends the PIA, but rather operationalises existing constitutional provisions by directing petroleum revenues into legally recognised government accounts. “EO9 does not intrude into legislative competence,” he said, adding that if the order’s validity is disputed, the judiciary was the appropriate venue for resolution. Until any such determination is made, he said, the executive branch remained obligated to protect Federation revenues.
Eight Senior Advocates of Nigeria, Lekan Ojo, Adeola Adedipe, Paul Obi, Wale Balogun, Dr. Wahab Shittu, Dr. Abiodun Layonu, Isiaka Olagunju, and Mofesomo Tayo-Oyetibo, each stated that an executive order cannot override, nullify, or set aside an act of the National Assembly, and that only a court of law holds the constitutional authority to declare legislation invalid.
Nigerian Bar Association President Afam Osigwe (SAN) was equally direct. “No, he does not,” Mr. Osigwe said when asked whether the president holds the power to modify an existing law through executive instrument. “A president cannot, by executive order, modify or alter a law. A president doesn’t have the power.”
Mr. Ojo elaborated on the structural limits of executive authority under Nigeria’s constitutional framework. The Petroleum Industry Act, he noted, is an act of the National Assembly, and the president cannot amend, alter, abrogate, or nullify any of its provisions by executive directive. “Executive order is like instruments to give effect to executive decisions and laws,” he said. “Where the law has prescribed a particular thing, the President cannot, by executive order, do the opposite.” He said the only legitimate path for addressing provisions the executive finds objectionable is for the National Assembly to initiate amendments, adding that neither executive nor judicial legislation is permitted under the 1999 Constitution. “Any attempt to amend an executive order is nothing but a nullity, and it is to that extent ineffective,” he said.
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Mr. Adedipe drew a similar conclusion, stating that executive orders are instruments of administrative convenience and cannot substitute for the law-making process prescribed by the Constitution. “Any Executive Order that derogates from administrative implementation of an existing law is likely to be annulled when challenged in court,” he said. Mr. Obi said the separation of powers doctrine, enshrined in the Constitution, was dispositive on the question.
The legislature makes law, he argued; the executive cannot reach into that domain through directive. The only lawful options available to a president dissatisfied with standing legislation, he said, are to sponsor an amendment bill or introduce fresh legislation to repeal the existing act.
Mr. Balogun stressed that subsidiary instruments, including executive orders, must always be traceable to an enabling law or constitutional provision and cannot override substantive legislation. Dr. Shittu framed the dispute in broader constitutional terms, saying the matter raised “profound constitutional questions regarding the scope and limits of executive power,” particularly as they relate to constitutional supremacy, separation of powers, and judicial review. He cited Section 1(1) of the Constitution, which declares it supreme and binding on all authorities throughout the federation.
The Petroleum Industry Act, which the current order directly engages, was signed into law in August 2021 by former President Muhammadu Buhari. It transformed the state oil company from a government agency into a commercial limited liability company, granting it significant financial autonomy, including the revenue retention mechanisms now suspended. Section 54 of the act specifically exempts NNPCL from the Fiscal Responsibility Act and permits it to operate outside certain government financial controls.
The Presidency’s position is that those provisions themselves run counter to constitutional requirements governing how Federation revenues must be handled.
Beyond the legal argument, concerns about the order’s operational implications have surfaced across the petroleum sector. The directive has reportedly unsettled officials within the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, NNPCL’s board and management, and the Midstream and Downstream Gas Infrastructure Fund, according to reporting by The PUNCH.
President Tinubu’s administration described the order as an interim corrective measure, with a permanent legislative framework to follow. An inter-agency implementation committee, chaired by the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, has been established to oversee execution of the directive.
No legal challenge has been filed in court as of Monday. The administration has not indicated whether it intends to pursue legislative amendments to the PIA to bring the order’s provisions into statutory alignment.
