Amid pervasive allegations of sabotage in the petroleum industry, the Senate has raised questions over the $1.5 billion approved in 2021 for the turn-around maintenance of the Port Harcourt Refinery with little or no result.
Consequently, the upper chamber lamented that it was unfair and wrong to treat government businesses or public companies as an orphan while private businesses thrive.
Senate leader and chairman of Senate Ad-hoc Committee to Investigate the Alleged Economic Sabotage in the Nigerian Petroleum Industry, Opeyemi Bamidele, raised the questions at a session with stakeholders in the industry at the National Assembly Complex, Abuja, on Wednesday.
The session was attended by Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy Wale Edun; group managing director, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL), Mele Kyari; chief executive of Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), Gbenga Komolafe and chief executive officer, Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, Farouk Ahmed, among others.
