Fuel Scarcity: Senate Summons Alison-Madueke, NNPC GMD, PPPRA, Others

The senate has summoned the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, the Group Managing Director of National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, Mr. Andrew Yakubu to appear before its Committee on Petroleum Downstream and  explain  the perennial fuel scarcity across the country.

Also to appear before  the Senator Magnus Abe-led Committee on Petroleum Resources (Downstream) next Tuesday, is  the  Executive Secretary of the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA), Mr. Reginald Stanley, just as  other stakeholders in the petroleum downstream sector were summoned.
In a statement signed yesterday, Senator Abe who noted  that the era of Nigerians queuing at filling stations for indeterminate hours to procure PMS and other petroleum products ought to have gone forever, adding  that it was really  an embarrassment that precious hours were  wasted in the quest to fulfil a basic need.
According to Senator Abe, long queues of vehicles at filling stations in Abuja and some cities in the country were unacceptable, adding, “we thought that the era of Nigerians queuing at filling stations for indeterminate hours to procure PMS and other petroleum products, was indeed gone forever. It is, indeed, an embarrassment that precious man-hours are wasted in the quest to fulfill a basic need.
Meanwhile as part of its investigations into the circumstances surrounding the AGIP Oil pipeline spill which occurred in Obioma in Nembe council area of Bayelsa state in June 2012, the House of Representatives Committee on environment led by Mrs Uche Ekwunife has invited the Managing Director, the Director Generals, DG of NOSDRA and DPR to appear before it for an interactive session on the status of the spill and clean up measures so far undertaken.
Addressing journalists yesterday, the House of Representatives Committee Chairman on Environment, Mrs. Uche Ekwunife said the summon on the Managing Director of AGIP was necessitated following his alleged hide and seek game aimed at deceiving the entire members of the committee, adding that the embattled MD had on the 18th of September written to the Committee to say he would not be available for the meeting and had designated the Operations Division Manager, Mr. Dan-Jumbo Dieneiruo to represent him.
According to Ekwunife, the excuses given by the MD was the second time he would be writing to explain his inability to honour the Committee’s invitation, stressing that the Director General of the Directorate of Petroleum Resources, DPR has on several occasions rebuffed the Committee’s invitation and was also absent for the meeting without any explanation