By Daily Topic
The Senate on July 3 constituted a 15-man ad-hoc committee to investigate the alleged economic sabotage in the petroleum industry.
The Nigerian Senate on Thursday named some agencies and stakeholders to be invited for interactions, as it begins a full scale investigation into the allegation of economic sabotage in the country’s petroleum industry.
The Senate on July 3 constituted a 15-man ad-hoc committee to investigate the alleged economic sabotage in the petroleum industry.
The Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, announced the ad-hoc committee, following a motion on Alleged Economic Sabotage in the Petroleum Industry sponsored by Senator Asuquo Ekpenyong, representing Cross River South Senatorial District, to unravel the allegation of importation of adulterated petroleum products into the country and the scarcity of the Premium Motor Spirit (PMS).
The committee which has the Senate Leader, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele, as its Chairman, was subsequently inaugurated by Akpabio, on July 22.
The Committee was charged with the mandate to: examine the pre-shipment and pre-discharge standard test parameters adopted by the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), with a view to uncovering loopholes, if any, being exploited to get toxic cargoes into the country; determine the level of compliance of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited’s (NNPCL) Direct Sale and Direct Purchase (DSP) arrangements in line with the provisions of the Petroleum Industry Act, including the extent of transparency and accountability in the scheme.
The Committee is also expected to investigate the activities of NMDPRA, including payments made to transporters in the last 10 years; enquire from the NNPCL the state/status of the 22 depots built by the defunct NNPC to eliminate road distribution of petroleum products; engage with-stakeholders within the oil and gas industry with a view to identifying possible gaps in regulating and strengthening the surveillance and monitoring structures in place to enable Nigeria to detect violations of best practice standards in the importation of products before they enter into the domestic supply chains.
Other terms of reference is to engage with the NNPCL with a view to understanding the extent of its determination and timelines for the start-up of government-funded oil refineries; Investigate how institutions across the importation and distribution chain failed to conduct quality sampling, shipped in products without auditing, and performed port validations by the NMDPRA, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Standards Organization of Nigeria (SON) and Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), among others.
At a world press conference held in Abuja on Thursday, the Committee Chairman, Senator Bamidele, assured Nigerians that no stone would be left unturned in the course of doing diligence to the mandate given to the Committee.
Bamidele said that members of the committee were eminent and distinguished Senators meticulously drawn from across the regions and different backgrounds.
