The House of Representatives has called for the suspension of the Chief Executive of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Authority (NMDPRA) pending conclusive investigations into the allegations against the Authority.
This followed the adoption of a motion of urgent public importance by Hon. Esosa Iyawe on the House’s urgent need to address the outage resulting from what he called unguarded comments from him.
Hon. Iyawe had reminded the House that fuel quality can impact engine hardware, thus ultra-low sulfur diesel is recommended for all types of companies, power plants, storage tanks, industrial facilities, fleets and heavy equipment, and even ships, as high Sulphur content in fuels, causes damage to engines and contributes to air pollution.
He said considering the various risks associated with Sulphur, governments around the world have taken steps to regulate it by setting standards that require maximum reduction of emissions of this chemical compound, which diesel producers are expected to adhere to.
According to the Edo Lawmaker, Sulphur dioxide has dire environmental and health consequences, as it can damage the human respiratory system, compromise lung function and even cause cancer.
He said the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Authority (NMDPRA) permits local refiners to produce diesel with Sulphur content of up to 650 parts per million (ppm) until January 2025, as approved by the ECOWAS.
He alleged that recently, the Chief Executive of the NMDPRA stated that the diesel produced by the Dangote refinery is inferior to the ones imported into the country and that their fuel had a large content of Sulphur, which he put at between 650 to 1,200ppm.
He said: “In their defence, Dangote called for a test of their products, which was supervised by Members of the House of Representatives, wherein it was revealed that Dangote’s diesel had a Sulphur content of 87.6 ppm (parts per million), whereas the other two samples diesel imported showed Sulphur levels exceeding 1800 ppm and 2000 ppm respectively, thus disproving the allegations made by the NMDPRA boss.
“Allegations have been made that the NMDPRA was giving licences to some traders who regularly import high-Sulphur content diesel into Nigeria, and the use of such products poses grave health risks and huge financial losses for Nigerians.
“The unguarded statements by the Chief Executive of the NMDPRA, which has since been disproved, sparked an outrage from Nigerians who tagged his undermining of local refineries and insistence on the continued importation of fuel an act of economic sabotage, as the imported products have been shown to contain high levels of dangerous compounds.”
He condemned what he called the careless statement by Farouk, noting that “Without conducting any prior investigation, he was not only unprofessional but also unpatriotic, especially in the face of the recent calls for protest against the Federal Government.”
Recall that a joint committee of the House on Monday, July 22, 2024, commenced investigations into Farouk’s allegations against Dangote Refinery.
The panel, made up of the Committees on Petroleum (Downstream and Midstream) is also conducting a legislative forensic investigation into “The presence of middlemen in crude trading and alleged unavailability of international standard laboratories to check adulterated products”, among others.
