By Godwin Igwe, Abuja
The House of Representatives Ad-hoc Committee on the state of refineries in the country has again summoned the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation and the operators of the refineries in the country.
It will be the third time in the last two weeks that NNPC and major stakeholders in the sector have been invited by the National Assembly for critical questioning.
Chairman of the Committee, Ganiyu Johnson, said if they fail to appear at the next sitting, parliamentary action would be taken against them.
This followed their absence during an investigative hearing of the Committee on Thursday.
Johnson expressed worry that despite the money spent fixing the country’s refineries there has been no result.
He said, “We do not want subsidy and if we do not want subsidy then the refineries must be working. We must find a way to make them work so we can refine them locally. It is a shame.
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“So I want to implore everybody, let us work together as Nigerians that we own this nation. We owe our people so we can end the issue of subsidies. That money for subsidy can be channeled to developmental projects if the refineries are working.
“On that note, I want to say that the NNPC and the operators of the refineries, this is the last opportunity you would have. I am directing you that you should by the next invitation show up otherwise we would take parliamentary action on NNPC and the operators of the refineries because we cannot continue like this.
“You expect the National Assembly to sit down and approve over N4 trillion just for subsidy. Money that should be used for something else. We cannot continue. We have to find a solution to this problem. We must find a way out. And the way out is for us to join hands and make sure those refineries are working.”
