House Invites Kyari, Emefiele, Ahmed, Sylva, Others over State of Refineries – Newstrends
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House Invites Kyari, Emefiele, Ahmed, Sylva, Others over State of Refineries

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  • Fix refineries with current oil windfall, Adeyemi tells FG

The House of Representatives Adhoc Committee investigating the state of refineries in the country has invited the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company  (NNPC) Limited, Mr. Mele Kyari; the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Godwin Emefiele; Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed; and  the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Mr. Timipre Sylva, to appear before the lawmakers on Thursday, March 31, to give account of the true state of refineries and what was needed to be done to function at maximum refining capacity.

The Committee also extended the invitation to other relevant key government stakeholders including the  Accountant-General of the Federation, the Auditor-General of the Federation, the Director General, Budget Office of the Federation, the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Authority, the Port Harcourt Refining Company Limited (PHRC), the Kaduna Refining and Petrochemical Company Limited (KRPC), the Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company Limited (WRPC), National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) and Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI).
The Speaker of the House, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila had on January, 2022, constituted the adhoc Committee to determine the state of refineries in the country and what was needed to bring them back to maximum refining capacity.

The Committee was mandated to work with the NNPC, the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, and other relevant stakeholders to obtain the needed information in order to carry out the assignment.

The Committee therefore, on February 24, 2022, requested the GMD of the NNPC for a status report on the nation’s refineries. The lawmakers specifically requested the GMD to provide, “Appraisal of the current state of refineries in the country, from year 2012 to date, copies of annual budgets on rehabilitation by the refineries from year 2012 to date, list of approvals/fund releases for rehabilitation of refineries from year 2012 to date, the list of all contracts awarded for rehabilitation of refineries and award letters issued to service providers and contractors from year 2012 to date, the actual cost of projects (contracts) and review (if any) stated in naira, work completion certificates issued on rehabilitation projects carried out on refineries from year 2012 to date, evidence of payments made for all such contracts awarded from year 2012 to date, list of service providers and contractors that handled the rehabilitation of refineries from year 2012 to date and any other relevant information to assist the Committee in the course of this assignment.”

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The lawmakers, while appreciating the response of the NNPC to their request and acknowledged receipt of their submissions and information so far provided, however pointed out that the submission made by the NNPC did not adequately provide answers to most of the request made to them by the letter.

However, at the hearing yesterday, the Chairman of the adhoc Committee, Hon. Johnson Ganiyu said the summon became necessary following the failure of the ministers and the other invited government officials to honour earlier invitation.
He said Nigerians were pained and not happy with the current state of affairs regarding the oil sector of the economy, hence subsidy was no longer sustainable.

Meanwhile, the Chairman, Senate Committee on Aviation, Senator Smart Adeyemi has advised the federal government to spend the current gains being made from crude oil sales with price above $100 per barrel to fix the nation’s comatose oil refineries or build new ones.
The nation’s 2022 budget was predicated on a benchmark of $62 per barrel of crude oil and the price of the commodity was $120 per barrel as of yesterday.

As a result of this, Adeyemi said, “proceeds from the oil windfall arising from the ongoing Russia/Ukraine war should be channeled into fixing the nation’s comatose refineries or to out rightly build new ones.”
Adeyemi said this yesterday in Abuja, while addressing journalists about the public hearing on his rent bill slated for March 30.

The Senator added: “To me, it is inexplicable and shameful for a nation that is producing crude oil in large volumes on daily basis to be importing refined ones.
“It is like somebody who has a functional borehole in his or her compound, and yet buying water from other sources.

“The serious bleeding the shameful arrangement is causing the nation’s economy must be stopped. Refineries must be made functional or new ones put in place to prevent huge capital flight bleeding the nation’s economy from refined oil importation,” he said.

Adeyemi lamented the federal government’s inability to fast track the completion of the Ajaokuta Iron and Steel Project which he described as a catalyst for full industrialisation of the nation’s economy.

He noted with concern that the abandoned Ajaokuta Steel Complex had the potential of providing gainful employment to over 50,000 Nigerians if resuscitated.
He added: “It is saddening that a potential game changer for the nation’s monolithic economy which started in 1980s is still at the stage of abandonment.

“If the federal government is not ready to see to its completion and functionality, it should be handed over to Kogi State which I believe will do the needful the way the Kaduna State government built an iron ore firm recently with potential for thousands of jobs creation for the youth and quantum wealth generation for the state.

“The President Muhammadu Buhari led government is no doubt, trying, as far as building of infrastructure are concerned but such legacies without completion of Ajaokuta and provision of functions refineries will not make much impacts economically.”

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BREAKING: FEC proposes N47.9 trillion budget for 2025 fiscal year

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BREAKING: FEC proposes N47.9 trillion budget for 2025 fiscal year

The federal government has unveiled a proposed budget of N47.9 trillion for the 2025 fiscal year.

Atiku Bagudu, Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, disclosed this to journalists on Thursday following the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting chaired by President Bola Tinubu.

Bagudu revealed that the council had approved the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) for 2025-2027.

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According to the minister, the government has pegged the crude oil benchmark at $75 per barrel, with an oil production target of 2.06 million barrels per day (bpd).

The budget also sets the exchange rate at N1,400 per dollar and aims for a gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate of 6.4%.

 

BREAKING: FEC proposes N47.9 trillion budget for 2025 fiscal year

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EFCC arrests ex-NCMB boss over $35m energy project fraud

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EFCC arrests ex-NCMB boss over $35m energy project fraud

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) told FIJ that they have arrested Timber Wabote, the former executive secretary of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCMB), on the grounds of a failed $35 million Bayelsa refinery project fraud.

Dele Oyewale, the EFCC’s spokesperson, confirmed this to FIJ on Thursday.

“It is true,” Oyewale responded to FIJ’s inquiries.

Wabote is accused of misappropriating public funds for a refinery project that should have improved local energy production.

Vanguard reported that the NCDMB under Wabote paid $35 million to support the development of energy infrastructure in the Brass Local Government Area of Bayelsa, yet there was nothing to show for it.

The EFCC picked Wabote up following the arrest of Akintoye Adeoye Akindele, the Managing Director of Atlantic International Refinery and Petrochemical Limited, for alleged misappropriation, money laundering and diversion of $35 million in public funds.

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“NCDMB under the watch of Wabote allegedly paid the $35 million to Akindele to build a 2,000 barrel per day (BPD), refinery, jetty, gas plant, power plant, data centre and tank farm at Brass free trade zone (FTZ), Okpoama Community in Brass LGA of Bayelsa State,” a source with the EFCC had explained.

Since December 2020 when the payments were made, Akindele abandoned the project with little or nothing to show for the huge sum he received.

Preliminary investigations showed that Wabote’s NCDMB financed 17 different projects, including the 2,000 BPD refinery in Brass LGA.

There has been a series of public fund misappropriation cases in the energy sector in recent times.

FIJ earlier reported that members of the House of Representatives summoned three ministers to defend how over $2 billion was spent on renewable energy with not much to show for it.

A recent FIJ report also recently detailed how residents of Yenagoa, the capital of Bayelsa, have not had power in their homes since July due to the vandalisation of the Ahoada-Yenagoa transmission towers caused by unidentified persons.

The Bayelsa state government told FIJ it was the federal government’s responsibility to provide electricity for residents. The state has no renewable energy options reliable enough to power its capital despite the multi-million-dollar NCMB energy project.

Transparency in the energy sector has become necessary at a time when Nigerians have suffered power instability due to frequent grid collapses.

EFCC arrests ex-NCMB boss over $35m energy project fraud

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Court adjourns Yahaya Bello’s trial till Nov 27

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Yahaya Bello

Court adjourns Yahaya Bello’s trial till Nov 27

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has requested an adjournment in the new case against the immediate past Governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello, stating that the 30-day window for the previously issued summons is still active.

The commission has granted administrative bail to his co-defendants, Umar Oricha and Abdulsalami Hudu, and asked the court for an extension of time for Bello to appear.

At the resumed hearing before Justice Maryann Anenih of the Federal Capital Territory High Court, Abuja, EFCC Counsel Jamiu Agoro noted that the court’s order from October 3rd had not yet expired.

“In that wise, we feel it will not be appropriate for us to take proceedings while that 30 days is still running. So we have discussed and agreed to come back on the 27th day of November, 2024, my lord,” he told the court.

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He also mentioned that the previously set date of November 20th was not convenient for the prosecution counsels.

Counsel to the second defendant, Aliyu Saiki, SAN, confirmed that his client had been granted administrative bail by the prosecution and had no objection to the adjournment request. The third defendant’s counsel, ZE Abass, concurred.

The prosecution counsel also requested the court to allow the notice of hearing to be pasted on the last known address of the first defendant.

After hearing from all counsels, the judge granted the EFCC’s application for adjournment and the issuance of the hearing notice.

“I have considered the application for adjournment by the complainant and issuance of hearing notice and the submission by the second and third defendants. The application is granted,” she said.

Justice Anenih then adjourned the case to November 27th for arraignment.

The former governor, alongside Umar Oricha and Abdulsalami Hudu, are being prosecuted as 1st to 3rd defendants, respectively, in a fresh 16-count charge instituted against them by the EFCC.

Court adjourns Yahaya Bello’s trial till Nov 27

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