Senate threatens NNPC's Kyari with sack, jail term as refineries fail to work after gulping N12trn

The Senate has threatened to sack and jail the Group Managing Director of Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), Mele Kyari and other top executive officers of petroleum subsidiaries.

The lawmakers stated this after highlighting that from 2010 till date, over N12 trillion has been spent on Nigerian refineries' Turn Around Maintenance (TAM) projects, yet none of the refineries is working.

The Senators were further infuriated by the failure of Kyari and other chief executive officers of the petrol subsidiaries to make themselves available at an interactive session organized by the panel to discuss the TAM.

The bosses of the oil sector agencies, including the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), and the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) however, sent their representatives for the crucial session.

Refinery not working despite trillions spent

According to The Nation, Senator Isah Jibrin, the Chairman of the Senate Ad-hoc Committee investigating the various Turn Around Maintenance (TAM) projects of Nigerian Refineries, pointed out that a large amount of money has been spent on the refineries that are still not working.

He said: We will ask for refund and dismissal of all the chief executives involved in the Turn Around Maintenance.

Demanding the presence of the CEO, the senator said that the oil companies have failed to submit the documents asked of them.

Between 2010 and 2020, he said the sum of N4.8 trillion was spent on operational expenses. He also questioned the operational expenses related to the purchase of raw materials and similar costs in moribund factories.

He said: These are issues that Nigerians want to know; they want solutions to all these leakages. We know they are leakages. Whether you accept it or not they are leakages and they are all forms of compromise within your various establishments.

He said that the Senate would not hesitate to escalate the issue to the highest possible level, which may lead to the possibility of a refund and outright dismissal of some of the heads of some of these agencies and possibly jail time.

Meanwhile, Legit.ng had reported that OPEC earlier revealed that Nigeria is about to witness the establishment of small modular refineries with 20,000 bpd capacity in the medium term.