The House of Representatives Committee on Petroleum Resources (Downstream) has began investigations into the rising cost of cooking gas also known as LPG and the the Automative Gas Oil AGO also known as diesel.
Chairman of the Committee Hon. Mahmud Gaya in an opening remark said that that the Investigative hearing is to find solutions to the astronomical increase in the price of these commodities.
He informed that the probe is because the House Committee believes that the deregulation of the petroleum sector by the government is going to lead to positive outcome.
He added that the probe is the resolution of the House on a motion brought before it by a member who said that Nigerian are suffering hugely due to the astronomical increase in the price of these petroleum products.
He therefore called on the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation NNPC and the other oil stakeholders to explain the reason for the untold hardship faced by citizens of Nigeria to get the products at affordable rates.
Spring at the hearing, the Group Managing Director of the NNPC Mallam Mele Kyari said that the solution to the challenge is to restore crude oil production capacity of the country.
He lamented that the volatility in the oil sector occasioned by the ongoing war in Ukraine had affected the price of oil products on a global scale.
The NNPC boss also said vandalism of oil facilities and oil bunkering are contributing to the current crisis in the oil sector of the nation’s economy.
Other key stakeholders also blamed the inability of the oil marketing companies to obtain Foreign exchange at concessionary rate at the Central Bank of Nigeria CBN on the crisis.
But the lawmakers said that the major reason why the crisis is continuing unabated is due to the dipaidated state of the nation’s oil refineries.
A member of the Committee Hon. Awaji Inombek Abiante (Rivers,PDP) while providing insight into the challenge said that the NNPC from records available to other probe panels failed to award contracts for the fixing of these refineries.
Moreover the President of Association of Gas Marketers of Nigeria Oladapo Olatunnbosun said that there are so many profiteers in the supply chain of cooking gas in the country.
He blamed the lapses by the regulator of the industry on the current crisis and noted that the nation’s produces these products significantly.
He added that Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas NLNG had sold the cooking oil product to offtakes at a very concessionary rate.
The House Committee before delving into a closed door meeting with these stakeholders said they are determined to get to the root of the matter with a view to finding solutions to the crisis.
