The House of Representatives has said it is not against the privatisation of the country’s oil refineries.
The lawmakers, however, explained that their opposition to the call for bids for three of the nation’s four refineries was because due process was not followed.
According to the House Committee on Privatisation, the exercise being carried out by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation ( NNPC ) on Kaduna, Warri and Port Harcourt refineries was in breach of the law.
The House insisted that the exercise must be stopped.
Chairman of Committee on Privatisation Ahmed Yerima, at an investigative public hearing yesterday, said: “We are pro the exercise because we are tired of public funds being tied to this sector, without results despite spending so much.
“We want it to succeed but there is a process which must be followed. This process must stop. We would not like to see you saying it must continue.”
The Committee also expressed disappointment with the Bureau of Public Enterprises ( BPE ) for playing second fiddle to NNPC on the issue.
The Acting Director General of BPE, Vincent Akpotaire, said: “We do that to gather information, else we would not get what we need. It is on the basis of this interaction that we build a profile on which the entire process would be designed”.
The Committee however said such interface was wrong because the Act was clear on the roles and powers of BPE on such issues.
The Committee accused the Minister of Petroleum Resources (State), Ibe Kachikwu, of stalling the investigation with his absence at the hearings.
Yerima said the minister’s absence made it difficult for the investigation to progress as his representatives at the two hearings could not satisfactory address questions on issues generated at the hearings.
