DEPARTMENT OF PETROLEUM RESOURCES GUIDELINES FOR THE RELEASE OF STAFF IN THE NIGERIAN OIL AND GAS INDUSTRY, 2019: APPLICATION AND CHALLENGES

Abstract

Subsidiary legislations are laws made pursuant to, and in exercise of, the power vested or conferred by an enabling statute. They enjoy the flavour and potency of the statutory provisions pursuant to which they are issued. By this, the members of judiciary and executive arms of government are empowered to make laws which ordinarily would infringe the principles of separation of powers. The only caveat is that the potency of such authorized subsidiary legislations must be exercised in furtherance of the cause of the enabling statute. Where an arm, other than the legislature, purports to make any law which is not authorized by an enabling statute, or its provisions do not further the cause of its enabling statute, such law, especially if made by the executive arm or its agencies, could be adjudged a government policy. The Minister of Petroleum Resources issued the Department of Petroleum Resources Guidelines for the Release of Staff in the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry, 2019. Paragraph 3.0 of the Guidelines requires the approval of the Minister before any staff of the oil and gas industry could be released. However, the issue is whether the Minister was empowered by an enabling statute to make such Guidelines. There are legal commentaries on whether the Guidelines, if authorized, could operate to limit the powers of employers in oil and gas industry. This is when juxtaposed with extant statutory and case laws on determination of contract of employment. It is against this backdrop that this paper sets out to appraise legal challenges in application of Department of Petroleum Resources Guidelines for the Release of Staff in the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry, 2019. The paper adopted doctrinal methodology with analytical approach using statutes and case laws, journals, articles, Internet materials as primary and secondary sources. At the end, it was found that the Guidelines did not meet the requirement of a subsidiary legislation and was ultra vires the powers given to him by the enabling law. Therefore, the Minister could not validly make Guidelines.