Fifteen lawmakers backed by an economic rescue group have called for the resignation of Mele Kyari, group chief executive officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company.
The group alleged that the challenges facing President Bola Tinubu’s administration are due to mismanagement under Kyari’s leadership in the NNPCL.
The group, in a press statement signed and issued on Tuesday in Abuja by its leader, Senator Esosa Iyawe, who represents Oredo Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, maintained that Kyari should be suspended pending the outcome of a forensic investigation by the House of Representatives Joint Committee on Petroleum (Downstream and Midstream) into the state of the national oil company and the entire downstream and midstream sector.
The lawmakers accused the NNPCL CEO and other management of undermining Tinubu’s “Agenda for New Hope”.
The lawmakers noted that to avoid obstruction, Kayyali and his team need to be removed until the forensic investigation by the House of Representatives Joint Committee on Downstream and Midstream is completed.
While supporting the House of Representatives’ forensic investigation into the presence of middlemen in the trade, indiscriminate issuance of licenses, absence of laboratories to test for counterfeit goods and the entry of fake goods into the country, the group recommended that President Tinubu take firm action to suspend senior NNPCL officials until the investigation is completed.
The statement read: “We, the 15 concerned lawmakers, state categorically that the woes of the oil and gas sector under the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu-led administration are mainly due to the failure and mismanagement of the NNPCL run by Mr Kyari. They should therefore honourably resign to resolve these issues.”
“If they do not voluntarily resign, the President should not hesitate to suspend them pending the conclusion of the House of Representatives Joint Committee on Downstream and Midstream Petroleum.”
“The oil sector remains the bedrock of the nation’s economy and the allegations uncovered in the House of Representatives that require forensic investigation are astonishing.
“They relate to the presence of middlemen in the trade, indiscriminate issuance of licenses, absence of laboratories to check for adulterated products, inflow of adulterated products into the country, allegations by local banks that profits earned from the sale of crude oil are not being repatriated to the country and other anomalies.”
“Unfair subsidies for PMS and other petroleum products have adversely affected the competitiveness of the sector and include fraudulent practices, favouritism in the pro forma invoice (PFI) system, indiscriminate issuance of licenses and the importation of refined petroleum products.”
The 15 lawmakers further alleged “the impact on the domestic market due to the reinstatement of PMS price intervention, non-availability of products from NNPC Retail to dealers, endless postponement of refinery repair schedules, unscrupulous practices at petrol stations which have affected product distribution and caused shortages, and the use of middlemen in trade which has adversely affected domestic crude oil supply.”
“With all these problems happening under Kayyali’s watch, there is no way the economy can grow,” they added.
“It is therefore evident that the management of the NNPCL is and has already undermined Tinubu’s New Hope programme through their incompetence and they must be suspended to allow for unhindered investigations.”
Iyawe recently moved a motion in the House of Representatives calling on the Federal Government to suspend the CEO of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, Farouk Ahmed, pending the completion of an investigation into his remarks on the quality of petroleum products from the Dangote refinery.
Iyawe also in May called on the Federal Government to renovate and return to public use abandoned buildings and confiscated land both at home and abroad.
(https://punchng.com/reps-want-seized-property-converted-to-govt-offices/)
