House of Reps. panel tells NNPC to halt refineries’ privatisation

The House of Representatives Committee on Privatisation and Commercialisation, Chaired by Ahmed Yerima on Wednesday asked the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to halt plans to privatise the country’s refineries.

At a session which brought together the House Committee members, NNPC and Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) officials, Yerima stated that the country’s laws were infringed upon in several ways by the actions of the oil corporation.

The Acting Director-General of the BPE, Vincent Akpotarie, told the committee that though the refineries were privatised in the past, the policy was reversed in 2007.

On his part, the Group Executive Director, Refineries, NNPC, Anibor Kragba, claimed that the corporation had no powers to sell any of the refineries.

The house committee also pointed out that most of the NNPC’s joint venture engagements with foreign companies were questionable and must be investigated.

The committee rescheduled the hearing and resolved to hear the position of the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Ibe Kachikwu, on the matter before taking a final decision.