Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Petroleum Resources Downstream Petroleum, Ikenga Ugochinyere says the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, NNPCL has refused to provide lawmakers with adequate information on the rehabilitation, revival and operations of Nigeria’s state-owned refineries despite formal requests.
Ugochinyere, who made this known while speaking with Petroleum Engineering students from the North-Central Zone said the Committee had not received any briefing, documents or relevant information from the NNPCL concerning the state of its downstream operations, particularly the rehabilitation and revival of the refineries.
The lawmaker disclosed that the Committee had formally written to both the NNPCL Group Chief Executive Officer, Bayo Ojulari and NNPCL Executive Vice President seeking information that would enable committee members to properly perform their oversight responsibilities, but no substantive response or documentation had been provided.
The Committee Chairman explained that the House had deliberately sought to establish a constructive and harmonious working relationship with the NNPCL in the interest of Nigerians, stressing that effective oversight should be based on cooperation, transparency and accountability
He warned that the continued failure of the NNPCL to engage with the Committee could leave lawmakers with no option than to invoke their constitutional and parliamentary powers available to them to obtain the information required.
According to him, the Committee’s objective is not to create unnecessary friction with the national oil company, but to ensure that Nigerians receive clear answers on the management of public assets and the progress of refinery rehabilitation, maintaining that the Committee would continue to exercise its oversight mandate in the national interest and would insist on transparency regarding the operations of the downstream petroleum sector, particularly the status of the nation’s refineries.
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(Editor: Terverr Tyav)
