The investigative public hearing into the illegal payment of subsidy on petroleum products scheduled for Thursday, 27th April, 2018 was stalked following the absence of Kemi Adeosun, Minister of Finance; Udoma Udo Udoma, Minister of Budget and National Planning as well as Ibe Kachikwu, Minister of State for Petroleum Resources.
The lawmakers also chided Group Managing Director of Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Maikanti Baru; Director of the Department of Petroleum Resources, Mordecai Ladan; the Executive Secretary of the Petroleum Product Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA), Abdulkadir Umar Saidu, for failing to honour the invitations sent by the joint committee on Finance and Petroleum (Downstream).
On his part, Hassan Saleh said: “I think the Executive, again, is refusing to acknowledge the fact that the system of government we operate has a legislative arm.
“As it, what we have isn’t sufficient for us to go forward with this hearing.”
While acknowledging the apology letters sent by the SGF and Minister of Budget and National Planning, the lawmakers insisted that all the Ministers and heads of relevant agencies must appear in person to respond to questions regarding secret subsidy payment.
Speaking earlier, Speaker Yakubu Dogara who noted that 90 percent of Nigerian citizens depend on PMS, reiterated the need for the Parliament to ensure that citizens are not subjected to untold hardship.
Worried by the report on the illegal payment of subsidy of petroleum products, Dogara argued that Nigerians would want to know the reason for the secret payment of subsidy, adding that the outcome of the investigative hearing will assist us to know how to use our resources.
In his remarks, Ibrahim Babangida, lead chairman of the joint committee read letters from Adeosun, Kachikwu and Baru, who said they could not make it to the hearing due to other engagements.
“Yesterday and today, we received three correspondences from Kachikwu, Adeosun and NNPC.
“The minister said he is currently outside the country. He directed NNPC GMD and DPR to respond to the committee’s requests.
“Today, we received a letter from NNPC. The GMD is requesting that we give him another date convenient to us for him to appear.
“As for Finance Minister, she said she is unable to make it to the hearing as she is currently leading the Nigerian delegation at IMF from where she will represent the country in Paris,” he said.
Babangida said the action of the officials showed the attitude of government agencies to the parliament, saying “the finance minister couldn’t even send a representative here.
“A new date will be fixed and communicated to the relevant stakeholders. But we want to make it clear that we’re not happy with their absence. We’ll give them another chance to appear before the committee,” Babangida said in closing remarks.
KEHINDE AKINTOLA, Abuja
