From Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja
House of Representatives, yesterday, charged the Federal Government and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Limited to handover the country’s refineries to international oil companies (IOCs) to resuscitate and make them functional.
This followed the adoption of a motion by Awaji-Inombek Abiante calling on the Federal Government to save Nigerians from “the recurring hardship of petroleum products scarcity.”
The country’s four refineries in Warri, Port Harcourt and Kaduna have been undergoing endless turn around maintenance in recent years.
Abiante, in his motion, said the refineries have become moribund while the Federal Government, in a bid to resuscitate them, according to a recent newspaper report, has spent $26.5 billion on their turn around maintenance without positive results. He said experts have opined that the money so far spent on the maintenance was enough to build three new refineries of the same size.
According to him, besides the huge sum spent on maintenance of the refineries, there have been an operating loss of N778.71 billion by the refineries in recent times.
The lawmaker added that the $26.5 billion reportedly spent on the maintenance of the refineries should have been used to address challenges in the eduction and health sectors, as well as road networks across the country.
Meanwhile, the House has placed the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) on status enquiry.
It also resolved to set up an ad-hoc committee to investigate alleged inadequacies of the corporation. The panel is expected to report back to the House in four weeks for further legislative actions.
This followed the adoption of a motion by the Minority Leader, Ndudi Elumelu, on need “to investigate the Ibadan-Lagos train fuel saga.”
Elumelu, in his motion informed the House that on March 11, train conveying passengers and goods from Lagos to Ibadan came to a halt midway due to insufficient fuel. The lawmaker said that was the latest in passenger trains breakdown, as a result alleged lack of maintenance.
According to him, the frequent breakdown of trains subjects “commuters to possible attacks by hoodlums and armed robbers who can brutalise, maim and cart away hard earned monies and goods of innocent passengers.
“For a train to leave the station with insufficient fuel only to get stuck midway into the journey with traumatised and stranded passengers, is a huge national embarrassment which not only makes our nation a laughing stock in the eyes of the international community but a complete system failure.
“Another of the operational incompetence of the NRC is the issue of ticket racketeering and hoarding to the public thereby undermining government revenue which inhibit target loan repayment and constitute economic sabotage
“This episode exposes the carelessness, irresponsibility and incompetence of the management of NRC to effectively and efficiently manage the sector,” he said.
He said NRC Managing Director, Fidelis Okhiria, excuse points to the inability of the management to effectively conduct routine standard operational checks.
The lawmaker said this has raised “serious issues about the safety and reliability of our rail services which must be seriously investigated.”
Deputy Minority Leader, Toby Okechukwu, in his contribution, decried the situation in the NRC, saying it portends grave danger for the safety of passengers.