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From Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja
The House of Representatives have insisted that the Minister of State for Petroleum, Timipreye Sylva, and the Group Managing Director( GMD), Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation ( NNPC), Mele Kyari must appear before the panel probing the state of refineries in the country.
Consequently, the House Ad-hoc Committee investigating the state of the four refineries, summon Sylva and Kyari to appear before it on April 28.
The chairman of the panel, Ganiyu Johnson, who issued the summons, on Thursday, at an investigative hearing organized by the committee, accused the duo of allegedly frustrating the efforts of the House to unravel why the refineries are not working, despite huge expenditures on them.
According to Johnson, both the minister has failed to honour the invitations of the committee on three different occasions. He noted that their actions is alleged disrespect for the citizens, who the parliament represents.
The lawmaker said: “we are compelled to make this Press Statement because of the continued refusal and flagrant disregard of the GMD of the NNPC, the Hon. Minister of State for
Petroleum Resources and the General Managers of Port Harcourt, Warri and
Kaduna Refineries to the invitations to appear before the Committee.
“We consider this continued refusal and negligence to appear before the Committee as disrespect to the Leadership of the National Assembly of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“The Committee is worried that the Port Harcourt Refining Company (PHRC), Warri Refinery and Petrochemicals Company (WRPC) and Kaduna Refinery and Petrochemicals Company (KRPC) had all been operating at gross losses since 2010 before they were finally shut down in 2019.
“This Committee has the mandate of the House of Representatives and the Constitutional responsibility to demand accountability from those in positions of managing our resources.
“It is worrisome that the GMD of the NNPC, the Hon. Minister of State for Petroleum Resources and the General Managers of Port Harcourt, Warri and Kaduna Refineries have refused on three invitations to appear before the Committee to account for the Billions of Dollars spent on the rehabilitation of the refineries over the years.”
Johnson added that “the Committee is aware that the NNPC recently awarded contracts for Rehabilitation of Refineries (WRPC $900 Million, PHRC $1.5 Billion and KRPC $1.3 Billion)
“As Chairman of this Honourable Committee, I hereby summon the GMD of the NNPC, the Hon. Minister of State for Petroleum Resources and the General Managers of Port Harcourt, Warri and Kaduna Refineries to appear before the Committee on Thursday 28 April, 2022 to avoid legal, constitutional and parliamentary measures to be taken against them in order to compel them to appear.
