The Joint Committee of the House of Representatives, which is conducting a forensic inquiry into the difficulties facing the downstream and midstream petroleum industries, has begun looking into claims of the importation of contaminated Premium Motor Spirit, popularly known as fuel, into the country.
The committee’s chairman, Ikenga Ugochinyere, announced this at the panel’s formal inauguration in Abuja on Monday.
The investigation team will also examine reports of crude oil theft at local refineries, distribution disruptions, and favouritism in the pro forma invoice regime, among other issues.
Briefing reporters at the event, Ugochinyere said, “The committee will conduct a legislative forensic investigation into the presence of middlemen in crude trading, the indiscriminate issuance of licenses, and the alleged unavailability of international standard laboratories to check adulterated products.”
He mentioned that the panel would also probe the possible influx of contaminated products into the country and “the allegation of non-domestication of profits realised from crude marketing sales in local banks, abuse of the PFI regime, and importation of products already being produced in Nigeria.”
Meanwhile, the panel plans to visit petrol stations around the country to collect samples of their products for laboratory testing to ensure their purity.
The mandate of the joint committee follows the approval of a motion on July 9, 2024, on the “urgent need to carry out a legislative forensic investigation into the challenges affecting the downstream and midstream petroleum sectors in Nigeria and other related matters to find out a lasting solution to all challenges” affecting the petroleum industry.
