May 07 2021 | The Biafra Restoration Voice The House of Representatives Committee on Petroleum (Upstream) has given the Nigerian National P...
May 07 2021 | The Biafra Restoration Voice
The House of Representatives Committee on Petroleum (Upstream) has given the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) 14 days ultimatum to appear before it.
The committee threatens that should the NNPC fail to appear, it will summon the Minister of Petroleum, President Muhammadu Buhari.
This development stems from the committee's investigation on the revocation and reversal order on the operating licences of OML 123, 124, 126 and 137.
The oil assets have been the subject of dispute between Chinese-owned oil companies and the federal government. The dispute led to the revocation and restoration of the mining licenses by the Buhari administration.
On Thursday, NNPC, Addax Petroleum Exploration Nigeria Ltd, Kaztech Engineering Ltd and Salvic Petroleum Resources Ltd all failed to appear before the committee. However, the Minister of Petroleum (State), Timipriye Sylva, and the Director of Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), Sarki Auwalu, appeared before the committee.
This ultimatum was issued by Myrki Adar (APC, Sokoto), the chairman of the committee, and he expressed readiness to summon the president if the Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Mele Kyari, should fail to appear before the panel.
He disclosed that the NNPC sent a letter to the committee that the matter was at the Supreme Court. However, Mr Sylva disputed the claim that the matter was in court.
While issuing the ultimatum, Mr Adar said the panel will not hesitate to summon the president, since he is the petroleum minister.
“Our message to all those that fail to appear before us as invited namely the NNPC, Addax petroleum company limited, Kaztech engineering ltd and Salvic petroleum resources limited".
The two weeks ultimatum starts from today May 7, 2021. He noted.
A presidential panel headed by a former senator, Magnus Abe, had accused the oil company of “economic wastages.”
Less than two weeks later, the federal government in a statement by the spokesperson to the President, Garba Shehu, restored the mining right of OMLs 123, 124, 126 and 137 to the NNPC which has a Production Sharing Contract with Addax Petroleum; thus reversing its operations back to Addax.
Just Last week, a motion to investigate the matter was listed on the Order Paper of the House.
The motion was in the name of Nicholas Ossai (PDP, Delta). However, the Speaker, Femi Gbajabiamila, asked the motion to be stepped down.
It is important to note that President Buhari is the substantive minister for petroleum and has been since 2015. However, back in December 2020, the Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, had said that the National Assembly cannot summon the President.
Let us see how this invitation or summon will be handled.
Source: Premium Times NG
Reported by:
Emma Obi
For: The Biafra Restoration Voice - TBRV
Published by:
Chibuike Nebeokike
For: The Biafra Restoration Voice - TBRV
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