House Moves To Investigate Pretroleum Products Racketeering

House of Representatives is to investigate syndicates involved in petroleum product racketeering and status of over 23 NNPC depots and national pipeline networks across the country.

Chairman, House Committee on Petroleum Resources (Downstream) Ikenga Ugochinyere, made this known in Abuja while reading the communiqué issued after a meeting between the National Association of Road Transport Owners, NARTO and the Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria, PETROAN.

According to him, the stakeholders ‘ meeting was organised to “find ways to ameliorate the sufferings of Nigerians in the face of subsidy removal, rising cost of living, inflation, instability of the exchange rate, insecurity, and other challenges that currently bedevil the nation”.

Ugochinyere explained that the stakeholders agreed to encourage “local refiners with licences to increase refining and affordable products, which will help to create more jobs and reduce pressure on our foreign exchange.

“The meeting resolved to commend the leadership of NARTO for calling off the strike, which has given room for resumed distribution of petroleum products and also commended the National Security Adviser, the Minister, and the NNPCL for their roles in the mediation to ensure that NARTO returns to the road.

“The Committee agreed with NARTO and PETROAN to find sustainable solutions to the present challenges facing the petroleum distribution and petrol outlet owners to avert any other strike or obstruction of the supply of the retail chain”.

“The committee agreed with NARTO and PETROAN for an all-inclusive meeting with the leadership of the National Assembly, regulators, and other key stakeholders, including security agencies, to tackle issues of multiple charges, sharp practices, and the rising cost of transportation to help achieve a sustainable and affordable product distribution and pricing system”.

“The Committee also agreed that because of the suffering, retail and transport owners are going through as a result of lack of access to funding, to fast track the process of the legislative creation of the energy band and also a council on petroleum products distribution to eliminate these challenges and ensure energy stability, affordability, and affordability.

“The Committee also agreed to help to create more jobs and reduce pressure on our foreign exchange and to closely monitor the ongoing repair of the nation’s refineries”.

“The Committee also agreed with NARTO that we are going to investigate the issue of retail owners who pay for petroleum products and months after, they don’t get it, and the emergence of middlemen who now sell these products to the real petrol outlet owners, which is the reason why the price keeps rising”.

“We also agreed to a stakeholders’ recommendation from NARTO and others to help in tackling some of the immediate and long-term needs in the industry to help ensure stability”.

Oduyemi Odumade, Edited By Grace Namiji