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FUEL THEFT: NNPC should go beyond sack of officials, says Senate
The Senate has commended the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) for responding to the motion moved during a plenary session by Senator Kabiru Marafa, chairman, Committee on Petroleum Downstream Sector, on the theft of petroleum products kept in the farm tanks of two oil companies and urged the corporation to take more radical measures to avoid recurrence.
In a statement by its spokesman, Senator Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi, the legislative chamber advised that NNPC should go beyond the sacking and redeployment of a few officials but initiate a comprehensive restructuring of its operations which presently allow officials and other firms to appropriate national resources for their personal use, thereby contributing to the suffering of the people.
“The Senate is appalled that NNPC is not contemplating on doing something about the involvement of officials of the Petroleum Products Marketing Company (PPMC) which actually played key roles in the missing products case.
Read also: Nigeria’s non-oil export trade suffers 60% decline
“It is instructive that NNPC did not do anything on the case until the matter was raised on the floor of the Senate and the press picked the matter up from the motion. The unauthorised sale of 132 million litres of fuel kept in the storage tanks of MRS and Capital Oil designated as strategic reserves is a grave occurrence. This probably is not the first time it is happening and NNPC must review its operations. It should in fact carry out a shake up in the PPMC”, Abdullahi stated.
It will be recalled that following the Senate debate of the motion on the theft of the fuel, the NNPC sacked two senior officials and redeployed a few others. Its spokesman, Ndu Ughamadu said the sack and deployment were in line with the on-going reforms the corporation initiated to cleanse it of corruption.
The NNPC lost 130 million litres through a breach in its throughput transactions with MRS and Capital Oil. However, MRS had returned the product it sold from the stock but Capital Oil is yet to refund the 82 million litres it sold. The Missing fuel sold by Capital Oil is valued at N11 billion.
While Capital Oil insisted that NNPC owed it on past business transactions, the corporation vowed to recover the products, investigate the breach and set up new modalities to guide its engagements of throughput partners.
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Balarabe musa
April 17, 2017 at 4:21 pm
The Senate always act as if they are up and doing when it comes to some matter they can’t eat from due to measures put in place but when it comes to matters regarding their own shortcomings, they won’t say anything. Gone are days when nnpc officials would have come to bribe the committee on the sector but no one tries that in Buhari’s time.
yanju omotodun
April 17, 2017 at 5:21 pm
You are right. The issue of their huge salary and other jumbo pays they receive is something they will never talked about. The way to man’s heart is through his stomach is the issue of our senators.
Joy Madu
April 18, 2017 at 2:39 am
Story if nnpc wants to bribe Buhari they will but because they want it done in a peaceful way that is why they kept bribing one side and face the heat
seyi jelili
April 17, 2017 at 5:04 pm
Our Senate has also helped tremendously to uncover so many money that would have gone into the state of oblivion. Good job done.
yanju omotodun
April 17, 2017 at 5:25 pm
Anything they don’t benefit from, they will raise alarm but the ones they do benefit from, they keep mute.
Anita Kingsley
April 17, 2017 at 7:57 pm
Can I get full explanation on why MRS and Capital Oil are not yet in court over this issue? They illegally sold what belongs to the NNPC, this should be treated as a capital offence under issues reletaed to theft
Agbor Chris
April 17, 2017 at 8:43 pm
Write to president Buhari, he has the best explanation to give on this
Animashaun Ayodeji
April 17, 2017 at 8:24 pm
Nigeria needs to buckle up, despite Buhari being the man heading the oil sector, corruption still exits. This means the guys in the sector don’t have no regard for him..