Reps joint C’ttee summons NNPCL, oil companies, agencies over environmental degradation in host communities

• …threaten sanctions

By Christiana Ekpa

The Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), Mele Kyari, has been summoned by a joint committee of the House of Representatives to appear on May 8, 2024 over a probe on environmental degradation caused by the activities of oil companies in oil producing communities in the country.
The Chairman of the House Committee on Environment, Hon Pondi Julius Gbabojor, gave the Summon at an investigative hearing on the need to investigate the service and unprecedented environmental damage within the communities on Wednesday.
Also to appear before the joint committee are the chief executives some oil companies and relevant government agencies.
The House Committees include Environment, Petroleum Resources (Upstream), Petroleum Resources (Downstream) and Climate Change.
Gbabojor said the matter to be addressed was critical as he threatened appropriate sanctions if those invited failed to turn up.
Besides the NNPCL, oil companies summoned include Chevron Nigeria Limited, Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited, Total Energies, Oando Oil Limited, Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited Seplat Energy among others.
Also government agencies summoned include Nigeria Midstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, National Oil Spill Detection Response Agency, National Environmental Standards Regulations and Enforcement Agency.
When the probe commenced on Wednesday, only four out of 35 oil companies and agencies invited for the probe showed up.
The National Environmental Standards Regulations and Enforcement Agency, however sent an excuse through a representative, but the rest did not give any reason for their absence.
The Committee members however complained that even the four that turned up submitted the relevant documents just the previous day, not giving the lawmakers enough time to study it for the probe.