Fifteen lawmakers under the aegis of The Economy Rescue Group, have called on Mele Kyari, the Group Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), to resign.
The group claimed that mismanagement under Kyari’s
leadership at the NNPCL was responsible for the woes being recorded by
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration.
In a press statement signed in Abuja on Tuesday by its
leader, Honourable Esosa Iyawe, lawmaker representing Oredo Federal
Constituency at the House of Representatives, in Abuja, they insists that Kyari
should be suspended, pending outcome of House of Representatives’ joint
Committee on Petroleum (Downstream and Midstream) forensic investigation into
the state of the national oil company and the downstream and midstream sectors
as a whole.
The lawmakers accused the NNPCL CEO and other management
staff of the corporation of undermining Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda.
The lawmakers declared they must be shown the way out until
the forensic investigation embarked upon by the House of Representatives
through the Downstream and Midstream joint Committee was concluded, in other to
avoid any act of sabotage.
While backing the House’s forensic investigation into the
presence of middlemen in trading, indiscriminate issuance of licenses,
unavailability of laboratories to check adulterated products, the influx of
adulterated products into the country, among others, the group advised
President Tinubu to wield the big stick by suspending the NNPCL top echelons
till the probe is over.
“We the 15 concerned lawmakers state unequivocally that the
woes of the Oil and Gas sector in the President Bola Ahmed- led administration
are caused mainly by the failures and mismanagement of the NNPLC under Kyari’s
management. Therefore, for this to be fixed, they should honourably resign.
“In an event they fail to step down on their own, the
President should not hesitate to suspend them pending the investigation
embarked upon the House of Representatives through its joint Committee on
Petroleum: Downstream and Midstream.
“The petroleum sector remains the backbone of the nation’s
economy and the allegations uncovered by the House which necessitated the
forensic investigation are astounding and astonishing.
“They have to do with the presence of middlemen in trading,
the indiscriminate issuance of licenses, the unavailability of laboratories to
check adulterated products, the influx of adulterated products into the
country, the allegation of non-domestication of profits realised from crude
marketing sales in local banks, and other anomalies.
“Unfair subsidisation of PMS and other petroleum products
which negatively affects competitiveness in the sector, racketeering and
favouritism in the Pro Forma Invoice System (PFI) regime, indiscriminate
issuance of licenses and importation of refined petroleum products.
“Return of PMS price intervention with its impact on
domestic market, product unavailability to marketers from NNPC Retail. Endless
shifting of timelines for refinery rehabilitation, the nefarious activities at
petrol depot which have affected product distribution and caused scarcity and
the use of middlemen in trading which has negatively affected domestic crude
supply,” the lawmakers alleged.
According to them, with all these happening under the watch
of Kyari, there was no way the economy can grow.
“It is therefore, obvious that the NNPCL management is out
to undermine and is already undermining the Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda with
incompetence and they must be suspended to give room for unhindered probe,”
they added.
It could be recalled that Honourable Esosa Iyawe recently
moved a motion in the House, calling on the Federal Government to suspend the
CEO of Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority
(NMDPRA), Farouk Ahmed, pending investigation into his remark about quality of
petroluem products at Dangote Refinery.
Advertise on NigerianEye.com to reach thousands of our daily users
No comments
Post a Comment
Kindly drop a comment below.
(Comments are moderated. Clean comments will be approved immediately)
Advert Enquires - Reach out to us at NigerianEye@gmail.com