The Senate has postponed the public hearing on alleged economic sabotage in the petroleum industry, citing the need for wider consultations with stakeholders.
The hearing, which was scheduled for September 10 to 12, 2024, has been put on hold to allow for more input and participation from key stakeholders.
According to the Leader of the Senate and Chairman of the Senate Ad-hoc Committee to Investigate Alleged Economic Sabotage in the Nigerian Petroleum Industry, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele, the decision was taken in the best interest of the federation and its teeming population. Bamidele explained that the postponement became imperative considering the compelling need “to consult more widely with expanded stakeholders within and without the petroleum industry and legislative exigencies to further deepen due diligence in the conduct of the investigative hearing.”
The Senate had set up the ad hoc committee to investigate billions spent on maintaining the nation’s refineries, shine a spotlight on regulatory agencies’ overpayment to transporters, and unravel the alleged importation of hazardous petroleum products and dumping of substandard diesel into the country. The committee had concluded its pre-investigation undertakings and held an interactive session with the heads of Ministries, Departments and Agencies as well as some private interests in the downstream and midstream petroleum sector.
Bamidele assured all stakeholders that a new date for the public hearing would be communicated to them in due course. He explained that each of these decisions was taken to enable the ad-hoc committee a holistic approach to the public hearing and find lasting solutions to the challenges confronting the petroleum sector of the economy.
Meanwhile, the Kwara State Council of the Nigeria Labour Congress has appealed to the Federal Government to reverse the recent increment in the price of petrol. The union described the increase as an “assault on workers’ wellbeing and a breach of contract.” The NLC chairman, Muritala Olayinka, noted that the government was insensitive to raise the pump price of fuel at a time when the citizens were experiencing economic hardship on account of economic policies.
Olayinka recalled that the decision to accept N70,000 as the new minimum wage was on the basis that there won’t be a hike in petrol price. He urged the citizens to remain calm and steadfast and avoid acts capable of causing tension, saying that the leadership of the organised labour is working and monitoring the trend of events arising from fuel price increases.
The union urged the Federal Government to review and revert some of its economic policies that are not labour-friendly and anti-people. “The increase in the petrol price during this period of economic hardship and strangulation calls for a deep sense of concern that may culminate in a national debate or dialogue on the direction toward the living standards of workers and Nigerian people,” Olayinka said.
