Lawmakers demand Kyari sack over alleged NNPCL mismanagement

• Published On: 30 July 2024 at 19:45

Fifteen MPs from the Economy Rescue Group have called for Mele Kyari, the Group Chief Executive Officer of Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, to be removed.

The Group, led by Honourable Esosa Iyawe, claims that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu's administration is struggling as a result of mismanagement under Kyari's leadership.

In a press statement, the lawmakers stated that Kyari and other management officials were sabotaging Tinubu's Renewed Hope Agenda. They insisted that Kyari be placed on leave while the House of Representatives' Joint Committee on Petroleum (Downstream and Midstream) conducted a forensic investigation.

The parliamentarians said that the NNPCL's mishandling has resulted in a number of concerns, including the existence of middlemen in trading, the indiscriminate issuing of licenses, the lack of laboratories to test adulterated products, and the influx of tainted items into the country.

"We, the 15 concerned MPs, unequivocally say that the troubles of the oil and gas industry in President Bola Ahmed's government are mostly the result of the NNPLC's failings and mismanagement under Kyari's leadership. As a result, in order to resolve this, they must quit honorably, according to the statement.

The MPs also urged that President Tinubu should suspend Kyari while the investigation is continuing if he does not resign. They also supported the House's forensic investigation into a variety of claims, including racketeering, favoritism under the Pro Forma Invoice System regime, and unfair subsidies for PMS and other petroleum products.

With all of this happening under Kyari's watch, lawmakers concluded that the economy couldn't develop.

"It is therefore obvious that the NNPCL management is out to undermine and is already undermining the Tinubu's Renewed Hope Agenda with incompetence, and they must be suspended to give room for unhindered probe," according to the statement.