Senate Defers Petroleum Industry’s Investigation

The Senate has deferred its investigation into the alleged sabotage in the petroleum industry, citing the need for more comprehensive consultations with stakeholders whose input and participation will add value to the conclusion of the investigative hearing.

The upper chamber also cited legislative exigencies aimed at further deepening due diligence in conducting the investigative hearing as another reason for postponing it.

Senator Opeyemi Bamidele, leader of the Senate and chairman of the Senate Ad-hoc Committee to Investigate Alleged Economic Sabotage in the Nigerian Petroleum Industry, said these things in a statement yesterday.

The Senate had set up the ad hoc committee to investigate billions spent on maintaining the nation’s refineries, spotlight regulatory agencies’ overpayment to transporters, and unravel the alleged importation of hazardous petroleum products and dumping substandard diesel into the country.

The ad hoc committee had concluded its pre-investigation undertakings. It held an interactive session with the heads of ministries, departments, and agencies (MDAs) and some private interests in the downstream and midstream petroleum sector.

After the exhaustive engagement with select MDAs and private oil firms, the ad-hoc committee subsequently scheduled its investigative hearing for Tuesday, 10th to Thursday, 12th September 2024
In his statement on Sunday, however, Bamidele explained that the ad hoc committee decided to postpone the investigative hearing after due consultation with all its members and critical actors in the petroleum industry.

He further noted that the ad hoc committee would communicate a new date for conducting the investigative hearing to all the stakeholders in due course.

Explaining the compelling reasons for the postponement, Bamidele noted that the decision was made in the best interest of the federation and its teeming population.

He further explained that the postponement became imperative considering the compelling need “to consult more widely with expanded stakeholders within and without the petroleum industry and legislative exigencies to deepen further due diligence in the conduct of the investigative hearing.

He added that the prevailing realities in the country that demanded urgent interventions of nearly all the public and private sector stakeholders across 36 federation and Federal Capital Territory states informed the resolve for the postponement.

Bamidele said, “While we deeply regret any inconvenience this decision may have caused all the stakeholders collectively or individually, it was taken purely and solely in the national interest.”

He explained that each of these decisions was taken to enable the ad hoc committee to take a holistic approach to the public hearing and find lasting solutions to the challenges confronting the petroleum sector of the economy.

Bamidele, therefore, assured all the stakeholders that a new date for the public hearing would be communicated to them soon.