Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja
The House of Representatives has charged the Nigerian Customs Service to review the ban on the supply of petroleum products to border communities in the country.
The House also mandated its Committee on Interior, Customs and Excise, as well as Petroleum Resources (Downstream) to engage the Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola and the Minister of State for Petroleum, Timipreye Sylva over the issue.
The committees were mandated to interface with the Comptroller of Customs, Hammed Ali and the Group Managing Director (GMD) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mele Kyari, with a view to reviewing the situation, so as to ameliorate the suffering of Nigerians living in the border communities.
The committees are expected to report back to the House within two weeks for further legislative actions.
This followed the adoption of motion sponsored by Sada Soli, under matters of urgent public importance, at Tuesday’s plenary, on the need to review the ban on supply of petroleum products to filling stations within 20 kilometers to the country’s borders.
Soli , in his lead debate, argued that the directive by the Customs CG on November 6, stopping supply of petroleum products to filling stations within 20 kilometers to the borders, has increased the suffering of Nigerians living in border communities.
The lawmaker stated that the directive, which is a violation of the provisions of the Customs and Excise Act (as amended) , has worsened the plight of Nigerians living in border communities, who are worst hit by the closure of the borders.
He noted that to make matters worse, no alternative provision was made to cater for the needs of those residing in the border communities, especially as the country’s economy depends on petroleum products.
According to him, “there are legitimate Nigeria citizens living on those borders. With this sudden directive, we are approaching Christmas. How will they survive? Today, my people travel 45 kilometers to buy petrol. This is not acceptable. If they are saying there is smuggling, who allowed this smuggling? I appeal to the House to look at this directive with human face.”