By Christiana Ekpa
The House of Representatives on Tuesday asked President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to suspend the Chief Executive of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Authority (NMDPRA), Farouk Ahmed for allegedly sabotaging the operation of Dangote Refinery.
The House resolution followed the adoption of a motion on matters of urgent national importance sponsored by Hon. Esosa lyawe at the plenary presided by Speaker Tajudeen Abass, the argued that he should be asked to step aside pending conclusive investigations into the allegations against his outfit.
The House directed Ikenga Ugochinyere led House committee on midstream and downstream to ensure compliance.
lyawe (APC: Edo) while moving the motion stressed the need for the measure in view of unsubstantiated claim by Ahmed that the diesel produced by the Dangote refinery is inferior to the ones imported into the country, and that their fuel had a large content of Sulphur, which he put at between 650 to 1,200ppm pm.
He said there is need to probe into the matter after the management of Dangote disproved Ahmed claims after a test of the refinery products, supervised by Members of the House of Representatives revealed that Dangote’s diesel had a Sulphur content of 87.6 ppm (parts per million), as against the other two samples diesel imported showed Sulphur levels exceeding 1800 pm and 2000 pm respectively.
He said it was unfortunate that Ahmed position against the Dangote refinery not only sparked an outrage from Nigerians but is tantamount to undermining local refineries in the country.
The lawmaker contended that the continued importation of fuel remains an act of economic sabotage, as the imported products have been shown to contain high levels of dangerous compounds;
He further described “the careless” statement by Ahmed without conducting any prior investigation as not only unprofessional, but also unpatriotic especially in the face of the recent calls for protest against the Federal Government;
Stating that fuel quality can impact engine hardware, he posted that allegations made by Ahmed could give the leeway to traders to import high-sulphur content diesel which poses grave health risks and huge financial losses for Nigerians.
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