A group, Vanguard For Transparent Leadership And Democracy (VATLAD) has asked President Bola Tinubu to overhaul the petroleum sector and its top management and political appointees because of their incompetence and lack of patriotism.
National president of VATLAD, Engr Igbini Emmanuel, stated this yesterday while commenting on the resolution of issues relating to disputes in the petroleum sector of Nigeria by Sen. Heineken Lokpobiri, Minister of State Petroleum Resources (Oil).
He objected to the minister’s intervention in resolving the ongoing disputes between the management of Dangote Refinery, the Management of Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Agency (NMDPRA), the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Agency (NUPRC), and the International Oil Companies (IOCs).
According to him, all the exposures are too weighty and grievous issues of national concerns that don’t fall squarely within the official jurisdiction or capacity of the minister to handle and resolve for the overriding interest of Nigeria and Nigerians.
Emmanuel said these are issues that affect the nation’s economy and national security which fall under the Exclusive Legislative List of the 1999 Nigerian Constitution, as amended, for National Assembly and the President Tinubu who also doubles as the substantive minister of petroleum resources, to cause thorough, independent and transparent investigations into.
He said that the top management staff of these federal government agencies, as well as those of the IOCs and other local producers and refiners operating in Nigeria, are now being exposed and that the president should intervene quickly.
He insisted that these accusations and counter-accusations opened the rare opportunity for Nigerians to learn about the petroleum sector and demand an immediate and total overhaul and restructuring of the petroleum sector, particularly the NNPCL and the petroleum regulatory agencies.
“In the past days, Nigerians have been inundated with facts of how highly adulterated petroleum products with negative economic, health and environmental implications are and still being sold to Nigerians by the NNPCL, Dangote Refinery, TotalEnergies, Matrix and other major importers of petroleum products.
“It has also been exposed how billions of dollars approved and released for turnaround maintenances (TAM) of the four Nigerian Petroleum Refineries cannot be accurately accounted for.
“Shocking also, is the exposure of how the IOCs operating in Nigeria are sabotaging the efforts of the federal government in having crude oil supply for local refineries in order to bring about crash in prices of petroleum products and ensure energy security,” Emmanuel stated.
The group called on the National Assembly to commence without delay, move to holistically review the 2021 Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) with a view to returning the NNPCL to its former status of NNPC and also erase many of the sections of the PIA establishing the NUPRC and NMDPRA and their management structure all of which have created more problems than intended to solve.
