Senate Appoints Isah Jibrin, Eteng Williams Into Committee To Investigate Moribund Nigeria Refinaries
By Abdul SULE and Missang AKPET
In its bid to revamp the moribund refineries in the country, the Senate has constituted an ad-hoc committee to investigate contracts awarded for the rehabilitation of the four refineries in the country.
The committee which has Sen. Isah Jibrin (Kogi East) as chairman also has the Chairman senate committee on Petroleum Upstream Senator Eteng Williams (Cross River Central) as member.
The motion to investigate the awarded contracts which has hindered the productivity of the refineries was moved by Senator Sunday Karimi representing Kogi West during plenary being presided by the deputy Senate President Senator Barau Jibirin
The deputy senate president charged the committee to interrogate the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited NNPCL and the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) on the best approach to commercialize state-owned refineries with an ultimatum of 4 weeks to submit its report.
The refineries have remained non-functional for years despite over ₦11.35 trillion being disbursed to carry out repairs under various Turn Around Maintenance (TAM) contracts.
Other members of the Ad hoc committee are chairmen of the committee on Finance, Petroleum Resources (Downstream and Gas), Appropriation, and Public Accounts.
