A group of fifteen lawmakers, known as The Economy Rescue Group, has called for the resignation of Mele Kyari, the Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL). They accuse him of mismanagement that is undermining President Bola Tinubu’s administration.
In a statement released on Tuesday in Abuja, the group’s leader, Esosa Iyawe, who represents Oredo Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, insisted that Kyari should be suspended pending a forensic investigation by the House of Representatives’ joint Committee on Petroleum (Downstream and Midstream).
“We, the 15 concerned lawmakers, state unequivocally that the woes of the oil and gas sector in the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu-led administration are caused mainly by the failures and mismanagement of the NNPCL under Kyari’s management,” the statement read. “Therefore, to resolve these issues, they should honorably resign.”
The lawmakers allege that Kyari and his team are sabotaging Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda. They believe that suspending Kyari and other NNPCL management staff during the investigation will prevent further sabotage.
The group supports the House’s forensic investigation into various issues, including the presence of middlemen in trading, indiscriminate issuance of licenses, lack of laboratories to check for adulterated products, and the influx of adulterated products into the country.
“The petroleum sector remains the backbone of the nation’s economy, and the allegations uncovered by the House, which necessitated the forensic investigation, are astounding,” the statement added. The allegations include non-domestication of profits from crude marketing sales in local banks, racketeering, favoritism in the Pro Forma Invoice System (PFI) regime, and issues with the importation of refined petroleum products.
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The lawmakers also highlighted problems such as the return of PMS price intervention, product unavailability to marketers, delayed refinery rehabilitation, and the use of middlemen in trading, which they claim negatively affects domestic crude supply.
Iyawe recently moved a motion in the House to suspend Farouk Ahmed, the CEO of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, pending an investigation into his remarks about the quality of petroleum products at Dangote Refinery.
The Economy Rescue Group urged President Tinubu to take decisive action by suspending the NNPCL management to allow for an unhindered probe, asserting that the current mismanagement is a significant obstacle to economic growth.