Lawmakers Accuse NNPCL’s Mele Kyari Of Sabotaging Tinubu’s Economic Reforms

Fifteen lawmakers from The Economy Rescue Group have urged the Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), Mele Kyari, to step down.

They claim that mismanagement under Kyari’s leadership is hindering President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration.

In a press release signed by the group’s leader, Honourable Esosa Iyawe, who represents Oredo Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, the lawmakers called for Kyari’s suspension pending the outcome of a forensic investigation by the House’s joint Committee on Petroleum (Downstream and Midstream) into the NNPCL and the petroleum sectors.

The lawmakers accused Kyari and other top executives of undermining Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda, stating that they should be removed to prevent potential sabotage during the investigation.

The group expressed support for the House’s probe into issues such as the involvement of middlemen in trading, the issuance of licenses, and the influx of adulterated products into Nigeria. They urged President Tinubu to suspend the NNPCL’s leadership during the investigation.

The lawmakers highlighted several issues that prompted the investigation, including the presence of middlemen in trading, license issuance, and the importation of adulterated products.

They also pointed to problems like the lack of product availability to marketers, delays in refinery rehabilitation, and the impact of price interventions on the domestic market.

According to the lawmakers, these issues under Kyari’s management hinder economic growth, threatening Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda. They urged for his suspension to ensure an unhindered investigation.

The statement read, “We the 15 concerned lawmakers state unequivocally that the woes of the Oil and Gas sector in the President Bola Ahmed- led administration are caused mainly by the failures and mismanagement of the NNPLC under Kyari’s management. Therefore, for this to be fixed, they should honourably resign.

“In an event they fail to step down on their own, the President should not hesitate to suspend them pending the investigation embarked upon the House of Representatives through its joint Committee on Petroleum: Downstream and Midstream.

“The petroleum sector remains the backbone of the nation’s economy and the allegations uncovered by the House which necessitated the forensic investigation are astounding and astonishing.

“They have to do with the presence of middlemen in trading, the indiscriminate issuance of licenses, the unavailability of laboratories to check adulterated products, the influx of adulterated products into the country, the allegation of non-domestication of profits realised from crude marketing sales in local banks, and other anomalies.

“Unfair subsidisation of PMS and other petroleum products which negatively affects competitiveness in the sector, racketeering and favouritism in the Pro Forma Invoice System (PFI) regime, indiscriminate issuance of licenses and importation of refined petroleum products.

“Return of PMS price intervention with its impact on domestic market, product unavailability to marketers from NNPC Retail. Endless shifting of timelines for refinery rehabilitation, the nefarious activities at petrol depot which have affected product distribution and caused scarcity and the use of middlemen in trading which has negatively affected domestic crude supply.

“It is therefore, obvious that the NNPCL management is out to undermine and is already undermining the Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda with incompetence and they must be suspended to give room for unhindered probe.”