Dangote refinery: Lawmakers back Kyari, NMDPRA CEO, say calls for sack premature

Some members of the house of representatives have faulted calls for the sack of Mele Kyari, group chief executive officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, and Farouk Ahmed, chief executive of the Nigerian Midstream Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA).

The group led by Famous Osawaru from Edo state, described the motion moved by Philip Agbese, deputy spokesperson of the house of representatives, as “premature and against parliamentary culture”.

Earlier this month, the NMDPRA and Dangote refinery were involved in a serious dispute that exposed some reprehensible practices in Nigeria’s oil and gas industry.

On July 18, Ahmed said local refineries, including the Dangote refinery, produce inferior products compared to the imported ones.

He also said Dangote requested all importation of petroleum products — especially automotive gas oil (AGO) or jet kero — be suspended and all oil marketers be directed to his refinery.

This, Ahmed said, would not bode well for Nigeria in terms of energy security and also not good for markets because of monopoly.

On his part, Aliko Dangote, chairman of Dangote Industries Limited, denied all the claims.

On July 22, the house of representatives joint committee on petroleum resources (downstream and midstream) launched a probe into several claims made by both parties.

However, on July 27, a group, known as the the Host Communities of Nigeria Producing Oil and Gas (HOSTCOM), asked President Bola Tinubu to sack Ahmed.

Agbese had also asked Tinubu to immediately dismiss Kyari, for allegedly stifling the economy’s growth due to the oil sector issues.

‘PREMATURE CONCLUSIONS, INVESTIGATION ONGOING’

Reacting to the calls, Osawaru said it is against the rules of the house to jump to conclusions in a matter that is still under investigation by the designated house committee.

“Nigerians will recall hike in fuel prices and associated challenges are fundamental concerns,” he said.

“The house of representatives vide its resolutions mandated the joint committee of the house on midstream and downstream petroleum to investigate issues in the oil and gas sector.

“We are aware that the investigation is ongoing and the final decision has not been reached.

“However, our attention has been drawn to some media reports calling for the removal of the group chief executive officer of the NNPCL and the chief executive officer of NMDPRA while the above investigation is subsisting.

“We wish to state that it is in the parliamentary culture to afford parties in an investigation that right to a fair hearing. Therefore, the call for the removal of anyone while the investigation is pending is premature.

“We, therefore, call on all Nigerians to be patient and law-abiding in expectation of a better Nigeria.”

The lawmakers also expressed concern about the ongoing protests in the country, saying they converged to further appraise the situation as it affects the wellbeing of Nigerians.

They called for calm and begged all Nigerians to bring the protests to an end.