Reps ask Tinubu to suspend oil regulator boss for making allegations without evidence
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Federal lawmakers are upset with oil regulator Farouk Ahmed and have asked Bola Tinubu to suspend him for his unsubstantiated smear campaign against Dangote Refinery that confirms Ali Dangote’s submission some people in and outside Nigeria are sabotaging the facility he built with $20 billion to lift the country’s economy.
Tinubu is both President and Petroleum Minister, having appropriated the latter post to himself like his predecessor Muhammadu Buhari.
Lawmakers added their voices to calls already made by many citizens – including former Education Minister Oby Ezekwesili and activist Aisha Yesufu – that Tinubu should speak up and take action to prevent Dangote Refinery from going under.
The House of Representatives demanded the suspension of the Chief Executive of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Authority (NMDPRA) pending conclusive investigation of Dangote’s allegations against him.
The resolution at plenary arose from the adoption of a motion of urgent public importance tabled by Esosa Iyawe on the need to address the outrage caused by the “unguarded comments” of Ahmed that diesel produced by Dangote Refinery is inferior to imported ones, among other disparaging attacks.
Iyawe reminded the House 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 also said
- Considering the risks of sulphur, governments around the world have taken steps to regulate it by setting standards of maximum reduction of emissions of this chemical compound to which diesel producers are to adhere.
- Sulphur dioxide has dire environmental and health consequences, as it can damage the human respiratory system, compromise lung function, and cause cancer.
- The NMDPRA permits local refiners to produce diesel with sulphur content of up to 650 parts per million (ppm) until January 2025, as approved by ECOWAS [the Economic Community of West African States].
- Ahmed alleged recently diesel produced by Dangote Refinery is inferior to the ones imported, and its fuel has a large content of sulphur of between 650 and 1,200ppm.
“In their defence,” Iyawe noted, “[Ali] Dangote called for a test of products of [the refinery] which was supervised by members of the House of Representatives, wherein it was revealed that 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.”
Iyawe expressed concern the “careless statement” by Ahmed without conducting any prior investigation is “unprofessional” and also “unpatriotic,” especially in the face of ongoing calls for nationwide hunger protest against the federal government.
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