By Christiana Ekpa
The House of Representatives has read the riot acts to some Ministries, departments and agencies who bluffed the summon by the Speaker of the House, Femi Gbajabiamila to appear before and investigative hearing into the actual daily consumption of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) from 2017 to 2022 in Nigeria.
The chairman of the Adhoc committee, Hon. Abdulkadir Abdullahi, addressing journalists expressed disappointment over the attitude of the MDAs refusal to appear before the Committee.
“I want to express my disappointment in some of the MDAs we have, because this is a very important responsibility as far as the House of Representatives is concerned. We are all elected from our various constituencies, representing various states and local government and like we said earlier the issue of consumption of petroleum products especially PMS is a very sensitive issue in this country and it has far reaching implications on the physical federalism of this country.
“So we expect government agencies to cooperate with us to give us information, to give us data that we asked so that we synthesis all these and make analysis and come out with a fair view and position of the volume consumed in the country which will invariably give a light as to the amount of money needed to subsidise this product but unfortunately most of the key players in the industry have been avoiding appearing before this committee”, the chairman said.
Abdullahi further warned that the House of Representatives will leave no stone, even as he added that there is no agency that is above the law.
He said failure to appear will attract unpalatable consequences from the committee and the House.
He regretted that out of 18 agencies invited at the hearing, only two appeared before the committee.
“And let me sound a note of warning that this committee and indeed the House of Representatives shall leave no stone unturned and there is no agency that is above the law, let them understand that they can only delay their appearance before this committee but they cannot escape the tentacles of this committee and the House of Representatives as far as this investigative is concerned.
“So it is better for them to appear before this committee and lay their submissions and give us the data that is required for the exercise, for the mandate of this committee to be actualised.
“I want to use this medium to draw the attention that we expect them to be civil organisations of government and cooperate in this very important legislative responsibility.
“So Mr clerk, all the governmental agencies including the ones that sent in letters asking for extension, you write them get a date for them preferably the second week of August and fix a date for another hearing and give them a last warning, failure to appear will attract unpalatable consequences from the committee and the House”, Hon. Abdullahi stressed.
Representative of the Chief of Naval Staff, Rear Admiral Olusola Oluwagbemi, gave update on the number of vessel arrested and letters received from the NNPC Limited within the period under review.
He said: “From January 2017 to July 2022, we have arrested 174 vessels for various offences.
“Regarding the NNPC schedule letters, between 2020 to July 2022, we have received, 4676 letters so far in 2022. Regarding the record of auctioned PMS amount, I can’t give you this report.
The lawmakers asked if there were litigations arising from confiscation of product, Oluwagbire said there was none of such with the Petrol Motor Spirit (PMS).
He added that seizures were handed over to either the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC or the Nigerian Civil Defence Corps depending on the nature of the seizures.
