The Joint Senate Committee on Petroleum Resources has summoned the Co-ordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Allison-Madueke, to appear before it on Monday to explain the reasons for protracted fuel crisis in the country.
The ministry also summoned the Group Managing Director of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Joseph Dawah; Managing Director of Petroleum Products Pricing and Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) as well as the Director of the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR).
The Representatives of Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria, Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria and the National Association of Road Transport Owners were also summoned.
According to a statement by chairmen of the upstream and downstream committees, Senator Emmanuel Paulker and Magnus Abe, the summons was in observance of Senate mandate asking them to find out why fuel scarcity has refused to end in the country.
Deputy Senate Leader, Abdul Ningi in his remarks said “We need to know whether fuel scarcity has come to stay. We need to know whether it has become part of our life. We need to plan. By planning and talking about it, we are sensitising Nigerians to brace up for the impending issue of fuel scarcity whether it is going to be here permanently or temporary.
“But we can’t know all these things until we hear from the experts. Therefore, my prayer is to ask the committee on downstream and upstream to come up with explanations next Tuesday through which Nigerians will know and plan their future. Otherwise, I think it is legally and morally wrong to keep silent about it, sweep it under the carpet and to continue to believe these things are usual.”