There was a mild drama at the House of Representatives on Tuesday when members of the joint committees on customs and excise, finance and banking, and currency disagreed with the lead chairman, Leke Abejide for proposing a warrant of arrest on the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele.
Abejide suggestion was sequel to the alleged repeated absence of Emiefele at hearings organised by the parliament which did not go down with members of the panel.
The joint committee is investigating the debacle between CBN/Technical Committee on Comprehensive Import Supervision Scheme (CISS) and Adani Mega System Ltd hindering the take-off of Nigerian Customs Services E-Customs modernisation project.
The lead chairman frowned at the absence of the CBN governor, who was scheduled to address the lawmakers, saying the legislature will not continue tolerating his attitude; hence a warrant of arrest should be issued.
But his colleagues opposed the suggestion, saying that they should be given an opportunity to air their opinion on the decision or vote on the issue.
The members angrily insisted that their voices must be heard, forcing a ranking member, Sada Soli to plead for calm and a closed-door session.
After the closed-door session which lasted about 10 minutes, the lawmakers resumed and said they have withdrawn the earlier decision to issue a warrant of arrest on the CBN governor, Emefiele.
Speaking on the withdrawal, Abejide said: “Please, everything has been withdrawn behind closed doors and we resolved to withdraw the warrant of arrest earlier issued against the CBN governor. But if anyone tries to look down on the parliament we will go ahead.
“We communicated with him twice, he said we should give him time, that he was having meetings with some governors. Even the director in charge of this guideline is out of the country. He wrote us officially. They said they didn’t see the second letter that we wrote informing them about this meeting. Now they are aware.”
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In another drama-packed probe by the House committee on petroleum resources (downstream), importers and suppliers of the adulterated petrol that led the country into the current crisis, denied being guilty of the alleged offence.
Those grilled by the lawmakers were MRS and a consortium of four companies; Emadeb, Hyde, Jay Maikifi and Brittania-U who were fingered as the suppliers of the bas fuel by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC)
Represented by its chief executive officer, Amina Miana, MRS denied importing contaminated fuel into the country, saying they were certified by NNPC on the importation.
“We received a letter, inviting us to this public hearing in regards to the alleged contamination of fuel imported into the country. So, that’s the reason why we are here.
“We are here to clarify the issues regarding the importation of fuel. I think the MD of NNPC was here, and he did clarify that the fuel which we imported was not out of specification or adulterated.
“Yes, there’s been a lot of conversations regarding whether or not we brought in fuel which is contaminated. Let me state that there is an approved specification of PMS which is imported into Nigeria. That specification is in the product we brought in. And I think the GMD of NNPC, attested to the fact that the product which we brought was tested.
“On arrival, it was tested by the NNPC inspectors and it met the specification before the vessel was discharged.
The normal procedure is that the NDMPR would normally have their own inspectors to test and certify what was discharged and all of that was done and certified Ok before the vessel was discharged, so we did not bring any adulterated fuel”, Maina said.
“I think in our letter we said you should give us all relevant documents from the beginning to the end,” he said.
Also testifying before the panel, the leader of the Consortium, Adebowale Olujimi said Britannia -U handled the importation.
He said: “On June 16, 2021, the consortium members executed a consortium agreement which defined the rotational responsibilities of members, sequential alternate crude lifting/petroleum product delivery and indemnification of other members against liabilities, claims, etc., that may arise during a member’s underperformance or failure to perform under the DSDP contract.
“The consortium was awarded the DSDP contract on June 22, 2021, by NNPC. The delivery of petroleum products and crude lifting has been done strictly on a rotational basis by the respective consortium members.
“Some of the consortium members – Emadeb/Hyde and AY Maikifi immediately engaged a reputable international company for delivery of all PMS cargoes and prompt loading of crude oil; while Brittania-U chose to engage a different entity for her own supplies.
“Brittania-U also preferred to liaise directly with NNPC and took responsibility for all her transactions without recourse to the other consortium members. All evidence to substantiate Brittania-U’s position is attached for reference.
“The other consortium members – Emadeb/Hyde and AY Maikifi have successfully delivered 270,000 Metric Tonnes (MT) of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), while Brittania U also delivered 90,000MT PMS.
“The PMS alleged to be Methanol-Blended was solely delivered by Brittania-U via MT Torm Hilde in January 2022. The other Consortium members — Emadeb/Hyde and AY Maikifi were not privy to the arrangements for the delivery of the aforementioned PMS and documentary evidence relating to the PMS.”
In his ruling, the chairman of the committee, Abdullahi Gaya asked the companies to produce all relevant documents backing up their oral presentation.
