The House of Representatives have justified its decision to set up multiple committees to investigate various issues in the petroleum sector.
The parliament stated that it was out to determine whether the Federal Government should continue payment of subsidy on Premium Motor Spirit (petrol) or not.
The House had on June 29, 2022, resolved to investigate payments for subsidy on petroleum products especially PMS under the regime led by the President Muhammadu Buhari.
A member of the House, Sergius Ogun, who moved the motion leading to the probe had said, “The House is also worried that the subsidy regime has been unscrupulously used by the NNPC and other critical stakeholders to subvert the nation’s crude oil revenue to the tune of over $10bn, with records showing that as at 2021, over $7bn in over 120 million barrels have been so diverted.”
Speaker of the House, Femi Gbajabiamila, consequently set up an ‘Ad Hoc Committee to investigate the Petroleum Products Subsidy regime from 2017 to 2021,’which was to report back to the House within eight weeks for further legislative action.
Earlier, Gbajabiamila had on January 6, 2022, ordered investigations of the actual volume of petrol consumed daily in Nigeria and the current state of the four national refineries.
Chairman of the House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Benjamin Kalu, while speaking to journalists on Friday, said, “To those who are not coming when invited, I don’t think the President will be happy with any MDA invited by the House of Representatives or the Senate that fails to come.
“If they are busy, usually they send a letter to say ‘this is why we are not coming.’ If in the letter, the reasons canvassed, for example if the (Governor of) CBN is sitting with Mr President on the day of his invitation or giving a report at the Federal Executive Council at the same time he was invited, we know it is a cogent reason not to come.
“Such cogent reasons will always be understood by the House. But flimsy reasons will never be tolerated because there is also a power in the Constitution that the House can invoke to command compliance by those who are invited.”
Kalu also noted that the panels are handling different matters.
PUNCH
