Senate Threatens To Sack NNPCL GMD Over Moribund Refineries

The Senate has directed the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited and its subsidiaries to provide the necessary documents for the Nigerian refineries’ Turnaround Maintenance projects.

The Senate observed that an extensive amount, exceeding N12 trillion, had been expended on Turnaround Maintenance from 2010 to the present.

Additionally, the Senate disclosed records indicating expenditures of over $592 million, €4.8 million, and £3.4 million during the same period on Turnaround Maintenance, despite none of the refineries being operational.

The Senate’s ad hoc committee, tasked with investigating the Turnaround Maintenance projects of Nigerian Refineries, issued a directive in a recent interactive session with the management of NNPC and executives from the oil sector.

Due to scheduling conflicts, certain agency heads were unable to attend the Senate hearing on Turnaround Maintenance projects personally and thus dispatched representatives on their behalf.

Senator Isa Jibrin, the ad hoc committee chairman, underscored the significant expenditures on non-operational refineries and stressed the imperative for effective solutions to rectify the numerous leaks in the system.

The lawmaker said, “We will ask for refund and dismissal of all the chief executives involved in the Turn Around Maintenance.”

Jibrin noted that the ad hoc committee had been requesting documents from the oil companies for weeks, yet they had not been provided, leading to a sense of suspicion and concern about the lack of transparency in the process.

“We sent them an invitation more than two weeks ago requesting documents, and the documents have not been released after two weeks. So, we want the chief executives to be present.

“More worrisome is between 2010 and 2020, the sum of N4.8tn was said to have been spent as operational expenses. How do you incure operational expenses that have to do with the purchase of raw materials and similar expenses on factories that are moribund? How do we come about operational expenses? We need to know.

“These are issues that Nigerians want to know; they want solutions to all these leakages. We know they are leakages. We know and we will not hesitate to escalate it to the highest possible level, including the possibility of refund and outright dismissal of some of the heads of some of these agencies and possibly go to jail,” he said.

Senator Yahaya Abdullahi insisted that representatives from NNPC and other agencies should be sent back to inform their chief executives to personally appear before the committee instead of sending proxies.

Expressing frustration with the situation, Senator Sumaila Kawu remarked that the invitees were well aware of the workings of the civil service, adding, “We are not in the Senate for personal functions. We are representing the entire legislature. You are in the civil service; we know how you are operating.

“We are in a very serious business. In the end, you will be at the receiving end. Nigerians are not satisfied with what you are doing, and you will be at the receiving end.”