Moves against hazardous petroleum products import
The Senate has rejected a motion seeking investigation into misuse of security funds, to halt their diversion towards building of universities and purchase of yacht.
It also raised the alarm over the persistent importation of hazardous petroleum products into the Nigerian market, and launched investigation into the matter.
The motion, which came during deliberation on last Saturday’s bomb blast in Borno State, was sponsored by former Edo State governor, Adams Oshiomhole (APC, Edo North), and seconded by Neda Imasuen (LP, Edo South).
Senate Chief Whip, Mohammed Ali Ndume, in an earlier motion, had drawn attention to the Borno tragedy and advised that security agencies in the country should deploy modern technology in the fight against insurgency and try securing the the Lake Chad Region, Sambisa Forest and Mandara Mountains.
But while the debate on Ndume’s motion was ongoing, Oshiomhole moved another motion: “My additional prayer is that the Senate Committee on Army and Air Force should ensure that we do not only provide more money to the armed forces, that we guard jealously what they use that money to procure. Under the supervision and oversight of this National Assembly, previous service chiefs spent this money to build universities in their various communities.
“Those are the kind of resources that should be used to procure modern technology. As we speak, those institutions are not teaching anything about security. They are just glorified colleges. I think this house has the power to appropriate. We should focus strictly on the items the security agencies need to do their work.”
Signs that Oshiomhole’s motion would be rejected emerged when Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, declared that his problem with the motion was the allegation that previous service chiefs diverted money to build universities. “Did they build personal universities or public universities?” he queried. Oshiomhole also expressed displeasure on the diversion of military funds to purchase yacht.
“Just last year when we were doing the supplementary budget, we saw that the Navy brought up the issue of yacht.”
Were we prepared to buy a yacht? That is why the oversight responsibility of this Senate is extremely important to prevail on the armed forces to prioritise in a manner that coincides with what we think the \Army should be doing,” he added.
When the question was put on whether the Senate should mandate its committees on defence to oversight all appropriations to the armed forces to avoid diversion, it was overwhelmingly defeated.
THE upper legislative chamber is also planning to review the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), noting that Nigeria had yet to attract significant investment since the Act’s implementation, while substandard petroleum products continue to flood the market.
The red chamber, therefore, raised an ad hoc committee to investigate the alleged importation of hazardous petroleum products and the dumping of substandard diesel in the country.
Resolution on the probe was passed as a matter of urgent public importance, followed by a motion by Asuquo Ekpenyong (APC, Cross River South), yesterday.
During plenary presided over by Akpabio, the committee was given terms of reference to include, “Examining the pre-shipment and pre-discharge standard test parameters adopted by the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Regulatory Authority (NMDRA), to uncover loopholes, if any, exploited to get toxic cargoes into the country.
Senate gave the committee 21 days conduct the investigation and submit a report.Ekpenyong, while moving his motion, recalled how 12 diesel cargoes, on June 16, 2024, reportedly conveying 660kt of diesel, was exported by refineries to offshore Lome, Togo, for further distribution to West African markets, mainly Nigeria.
When the motion was passed, Akpabio observed that following the passage of the PIA, several local investors put their money in the oil and gas industry, but said they might be disappointed already, seeing that happenings in the industry didn’t encourage them. He cited Dangote Group, which invested over $4 billion to build a refinery in the country, but was being frustrated to a point of sourcing crude outside the country.