In an escalation of political tensions, fifteen lawmakers from the Economy Rescue Group, a caucus within the Nigerian parliament, have demanded the resignation of Mele Kyari as the Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited.
Casting blame for the economic struggles faced by President Tinubu’s administration, the Group accused Mele Kyari of mismanaging the NNPCL. The lawmakers assert that Kyari’s leadership has failed to effectively navigate the oil and gas sector, leading to ongoing challenges that have impeded President Tinubu’s efforts to stabilize and improve the country’s economy.
In a strongly worded statement issued in Abuja, the leader of the Economy Rescue Group and Rep. Esosa Iyawe insisted that Mele Kyari should be suspended from his post until the House of Representatives completes its forensic investigation into the NNPCL and the downstream and midstream sectors. The group asserts that Kyari’s presence at the company would hinder the investigation’s transparency and effectiveness, and his suspension is necessary to ensure an unbiased and thorough inquiry into the alleged mismanagement and dysfunction within the oil and gas sector.
Charging Kyari and other members of NNPCL’s management team with sabotaging President Tinubu’s “Renewed Hope Agenda”, the Economy Rescue Group has accused them of prioritizing personal gain over the country’s economic stability.
In order to prevent any potential sabotage or interference in the investigation, the lawmakers called for Kyari’s immediate removal from his position until the House of Representatives’ Downstream and Midstream Joint Committee finishes its forensic probe into the oil and gas sector.
The Group threw its full weight behind the House of Representatives’ thorough inquiry into various issues plaguing the oil and gas industry, including the prevalence of middlemen in trading, the misuse of licenses, the lack of proper testing facilities for adulterated products, and the influx of substandard goods. However, the group has also urged President Tinubu to take a strong stance against the alleged mismanagement by suspending top NNPCL executives until the investigation is concluded.
The statement reads: “We, the 15 concerned lawmakers, state unequivocally that the woes of the oil and gas sector in the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu-led administration are caused mainly by the failures and mismanagement of the NNPCL under Kyari’s management. Therefore, to resolve these issues, they should honourably resign.
“In the event they fail to step down on their own, the President should not hesitate to suspend them pending the investigation conducted by the House of Representatives through its joint Committee on Petroleum: Downstream and Midstream.
“The petroleum sector remains the backbone of the nation’s economy, and the allegations uncovered by the House, which necessitated the forensic investigation, are astounding.
“They relate to the presence of middlemen in trading, the indiscriminate issuance of licences, the unavailability of laboratories to check adulterated products, the influx of adulterated products into the country, the allegation of non-domestication of profits realised from crude marketing sales in local banks, and other anomalies.
Unfair subsidisation of PMS and other petroleum products, which negatively affects competitiveness in the sector, racketeering, and favouritism in the Pro Forma Invoice System (PFI) regime, indiscriminate issuance of licences, and importation of refined petroleum products.”
The 15 lawmakers alleged further “The return of PMS price intervention with its impact on the domestic market, product unavailability to marketers from NNPC Retail, endless shifting of timelines for refinery rehabilitation, the nefarious activities at petrol depots which have affected product distribution and caused scarcity, and the use of middlemen in trading which has negatively affected domestic crude supply.”
They added, “With all these issues occurring under Kyari’s watch, there is no way the economy can grow.
“It is therefore obvious that the NNPCL management is undermining and is already undermining Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda through incompetence, and they must be suspended to allow for an unhindered probe.”
