By Derrick Bangura
The Nigerian House of Representatives has directed that the Committee on Petroleum Downstream investigate the continuing issue of fuel scarcity.
This, according to the lawmakers, was to see if there was an interim report on the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited’s (NNPC) claim that it had enough fuel despite ongoing scarcity.
The lawmakers had mandated the Committee to investigate the release of methanol-blended petroleum in the country on February 10, while adopting a motion sponsored by the Chief Whip of the House, Hon. Tahir Monguno (APC, Borno), with a view to ensuring that culprits are brought to book and making recommendations to avoid reoccurrence.
The lawmakers also ordered the NNPC Limited to suspend enterprises involved in the distribution of tainted petrol and to provide their names to the committee.
The downstream committee was also tasked with determining if the product’s importation, distribution, and dispensing in Nigeria up to that point had met international standards.
In the plenary on Tuesday, Minority Leader Hon. Ndudi Elumelu (PDP, Delta), speaking under order 8 rule 4 of the House rules, said the existing committee charged with investigating the issue of adulterated fuel should also check if there was an interim report on the NNPC Limited’s claim that it has enough fuel despite lingering scarcity across the country.
He lamented how difficult it was for him to get to work because all of the roads were completely blocked by people hunting for gasoline.
“I’m coming under this rule for us to discuss the topic of Nigeria’s continuing gasoline crisis,” Elumelu stated. I agree that the NNPC has enough fuel, but it does not appear to be consistent with their argument that they have enough fuel because there is still a lingering fuel problem in Nigeria.
“It took me a long time to get here since all of the roads are completely clogged by people hunting for gasoline.” There’s already a committee tasked with researching the issue of contaminated fuel, so I’m thinking they should see whether there’s an interim report as part of their current work.”
The Speaker, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, echoed Elumelu’s view and asked the Committee to continue its probe into the continuing situation.
“There’s a nexus between the motion from last week on contaminated fuel and what you have very rightly brought out,” Gbajabiamila added. The standing committee should take note of this and continue their probe into the ongoing situation.”
Meanwhile, the House of Representatives has demanded that the Department of State Security (DSS) and the Police properly investigate the circumstances surrounding the assassination of Divisional Police Officer (DPO) Abubakar Abdulkadir Rano by terrorists in Jibia division, Katsina state.
While condemning the assassination of the police officer and others, the House also asked the DSS and police to look into similar cases across the country and assist bereaved families. The legislators’ motions came after the plenary yesterday approved a motion of urgent public interest sponsored by Hon. Kabiru Alhassan Rurum.
Rurum, who moved the motion, stated that the late Rano, the commander of the Jibia Division, was savagely murdered by bandits while attempting to rescue an abducted woman.
According to him, the officer had had success in confronting and battling bandits in the region, which helped to reduce community attacks. He bemoaned the fact that nothing had been done to investigate the circumstances surrounding his death since the incident.
He went on to say that a detrimental trend that needed to be addressed was the absence of swift investigation into the deaths of police officers slain in similar situations.
The House conducted a minute of silence after passing the motion in honor of the late DPO and other police officers who died while serving the country.