Tomorrow’s public hearing by the Senate Ad Hoc Committee on suspected economic sabotage in the petroleum industry has been postponed, the committee announced yesterday.
The ad hoc committee’s chairman, Senate Leader Opeyemi Bamidele, made this announcement in a statement in Abuja.
He explained that the purpose of the postponement was to allow the committee to have extensive consultations with pertinent parties whose involvement and contributions would enhance the investigation hearing’s outcome.
Another reason for postponing the hearing, according to the Senate Leader, was legislative urgency to further enhance due diligence in the conduct of the investigation inquiry.
The Senate established the ad hoc committee to look into the enormous sums of money used to maintain the country’s refineries, to shine light on regulatory bodies regarding their payment to transporters, and to investigate claims of the importation of hazardous petroleum products and the dumping of subpar diesel into the nation.
The statement claims that the ad hoc committee has completed its pre-investigation tasks and engaged in a dialogue with the heads of the Federal Government’s ministries, departments, and agencies (MDAs), as well as a few private interests in the downstream and midstream petroleum industry.
Following a thorough discussion with a few MDAs and private oil companies, the ad hoc committee had set tomorrow and Thursday for its investigation hearing.
Bamidele said: “While we deeply regret all inconveniences it may have caused all the stakeholders collectively or individually, this decision was taken purely and solely in the national interest.”
