*Demand for dismissal of chiefs of NNPCL, NUPRC and NMDPRA
Key stakeholders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) have called on President Bola Tinubu to sack the heads of the national oil and gas regulators for failing to effectively manage the sector and address the myriad challenges facing the industry.
Specifically, the Tinubu Legacy Coalition (TLC) called in a private letter to President Tinubu for the dismissal of Mele Kyari, Gbenga Komolafe and Farouk Ahmaed as heads of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) and the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA).
According to the letter signed by Bala Abu (Chairman/National President), Dr. Jeremmiah Okino (Joint Chairman), Comrade Gabriel Gbana (Secretary), Princess Ajibola, Dr. Thomas Terna and 95 other progressives, the stakeholders said their continued stay in office had done more harm than good to the President’s image.
They complained that the sector suffered from inefficiency, corruption and mismanagement and that fuel shortages, vandalism of pipelines and oil theft were commonplace.
Those involved said the country’s reputation had been damaged by a lack of transparency and accountability and billions of dollars had been lost through fraudulent activities.
“We must express our deep concern about the state of the country’s oil and gas industry. Although the sector has the potential to drive economic growth, it is plagued by inefficiency, corruption and mismanagement. The continued tenures of Mele Kyari, Engineer Gbenga Komolafe and Farouk Ahmed have done more harm than good to President Tinubu’s image,” the letter said.
“The oil and gas sector is in ruins, with fuel shortages, pipeline vandalism and oil theft commonplace. The sector’s contribution to the country’s GDP has plummeted and the country’s reputation is ruined. The lack of transparency and accountability in the sector has led to widespread corruption, with billions of dollars lost to fraudulent activities.
“Furthermore, the industry is plagued by vested interests concerned about the importation of adulterated petroleum products, unavailability of crude oil for domestic refineries and concerns about energy security. Particularly alarming are the recent allegations by the Dangote refinery against international oil companies (IOCs) of conspiring to hamper the local refining industry through underhand tactics.
“The indiscriminate issuing of import licenses by the NMDPRA has led to the importation of ‘dirty’ sulphurous diesel which poses serious health risks to Nigerians. The regulator and oil traders have denied this but the evidence speaks for itself.
“The constant queues at filling stations where fuel is sold for up to 1,000 naira per litre are a testament to the mismanagement of the sector. Greed continues to rule the industry and Nigerians bear the brunt of mismanagement, inefficiency, capacity deficits, insecurity, governance and regulatory gaps.
“Mele Kyari’s leadership of the NNPCL was marked by incompetence and ineptitude. He failed to tackle the fuel shortages and vandalism of the pipelines that became widespread under his leadership.
“Engineer Gbenga Komolafe has equally failed to increase transparency and accountability in the sector, allowing corruption and oil theft to flourish. Farouk Ahmed’s tenure as head of NMDPRA was marked by a lack of vision and failure to develop a comprehensive plan to increase the sector’s contribution to GDP.
“We accuse these individuals of gross dereliction of duty and complicity in the decline of the sector. Their continued stay in office is a disservice to President Tinubu’s government and a betrayal of the trust placed in it.”
Stakeholders therefore said their dismissal was necessary to restore confidence in the sector.
