By Nathaniel Zacchaeus, Abuja
The Senate Committee on Gas yesterday raised the alarm over an alleged, desperate plot by some unnamed operators of the Presidential Committee on Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) to blackmail and intimidate some senators.
The panel in a statement by its Chairman, Agom Jarigbe yesterday, alleged that the plot was aimed at forcing the lawmakers to abandon their inquiry into the controversial award and disbursement of over N100bn of government gas development fund.
The committee in a reaction today pledged a harmonious working relationship with the Minister of Finance, Mr Wale Edun, and the Presidential Committee on Compressed Natural Gas in to enable the Federal Government actualise the noble agenda of President Bola Tinubu to develop the national gas sector as an alternative source of energy.
The committee in the statement, also dismissed as “laughable an online media report which quoted the chairman of the committee Distinguished Senator Jarigbe Agom Jarigbe as saying he will bring down the PCNG implementation committee and will not ask them for money.”
According to the committee, the Chairman in the said letter to the Minister of Finance, Mr Wale Edun, dated January 9, never mentioned or threatened to run the PCNG down for whatever reason.
Part of the statement read, “There was no threat contained in the committee’s letter to the Minister. It was an official letter and properly worded concerning the office and person of the Minister.
“The reported threat to pull down the PCNG was therefore another joke taken too far by the online media and what it represents in this instance. We would have ignored this report but we need to put the record straight here and for the avoidance of doubt. There was no such threat in the said letter to the minister by the Committee.
“The false report is therefore part of the desperate plot by those who are not comfortable with our inquiry into the handling of the N100bn gas project fund.
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“We as a committee therefore cannot be blackmailed or intimidated to abandon constitutional responsibility and the committee still stands by its seven-day ultimatum given to the minister to furnish details of the disbursement of the fund which was in gross violation of the public procurement Act if 2007.
“The Senate is saddled with the responsibility of oversights and we will be failing in our duties if we are indifferent to how agencies of government spend the funds released for various projects.
“The committee insists that it amounts to a breach of the procurement Act for the PCNG to go ahead with the disbursement without the approval of the National Assembly.
“The President has good intentions and we cannot allow his intentions to be frustrated. Nigerians are in pain and we want results.”
The committee had in a letter to the minister asked the coordinating minister of economy to furnish it with details of the award and disbursement of over N100bn CNG fund.
