The House of Representatives has stopped the ongoing maintenance work on all four oil refineries.
On Thursday, February 22, 2018, the House of Representatives ordered the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to suspend action on the plan to expend $1.8 billion on the Turn Around Maintenance (TAM) of the nation’s four refineries.
This was disclosed by the Chairman of the House ad hoc committee, Rep Garba Datti Mohammed, who explained that this was to enable his committee to conclude its work on the veracity of the TAM.
While calling for the support of stakeholders in the petroleum industry, he disclosed that the Minister of State, Petroleum resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu has been duly informed of the House position.
Mohammed said, “the House mandated this committee to ascertain the viability of continuing investment of public funds on the refineries and the allocation of 445,000 barrels per day of crude utilization for the same purpose.”
“For that reason, we call on the NNPC to halt the $1.8 bn contract for the Turn Around Maintenance (TAM) at the facilities. This would enable us to carry out a thorough investigation so as to find a way of resolving the epileptic operations of the refineries.”
Mohammed assured that the House was keen on proffering a lasting solution to the epileptic supply of petroleum products in the country.