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The group chief executive officers of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd (NNPC), the Nigeria Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), and the Nigeria Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) were required to appear before the House of Representatives ad hoc committee looking into crude oil theft.
The decision was made in Abuja by Rep. Alhassan Rurum, the chairman of the investigation panel, who also said that the heads of the agencies had to show up in person and not through a representative.
Mr. Rurum scowled at a scenario in which the leaders of the invited agencies were invited but did not show up in person but instead sent their directors as representations.
He claimed that the majority of the invited CEOs wrote to the committee to request authorization for their subordinate to speak on their behalf since they were unwilling to accept the committee’s invitation in person.
According to him, the committee has the authority to invite and arrange for the appearance of any corporate firms as well as individual government officials who are in charge of managing public funds.
Pipelines and flow stations were the main targets of oil thieves, according to the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) and the Nigerian Upstream Regulatory Authority (NUPRA) at the hearing.
They said that the inability of federal government agencies to combat oil theft was due to flawed metering practices, poor equipment, and a lack of technology.
However, Mr. Rurum advised the invited CEOs of the agencies to bring a list of all other agencies engaged in the nation’s oil export terminal.
(NAN)
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