Legislators probe FG plan to sell refineries

The House of Representatives has commenced an enquiry into allegations of a planned sell of oil refineries in the country by the Presidency.

Hon. Hassan El-Badawy (APC-Yobe), who moved the motion for the probe, regretted the announcement for the sale of the refineries was made without the knowledge of the Bureau of Public Enterprise (BPE) as the agency charged with the responsibility to dispose off public assets.

'Almost one year after expending huge sums of money on the Turn Around Maintenance (TAM) of the Port Harcourt refineries, the minister has declared that the refineries would be sold, a move many Nigerians consider to be suspicious, illegal and unreasonable.

'There appears to be a clear contradiction between the positions of the minister and that of the Director-General of the BPE with regards to the privatisation of refineries,' he said.

He said he was surprised that the government would be planning the sale when the minister had in October, told a Senate committee that the Turn Around Maintenance was in process to the tune of about $ 1.6 billion.

'The minister's action seems to be in isolation of what the regulatory authorities, that is the National Council on Privatisation (NCP) and the BPE had resolved on the matter,' stated the legislator.

He alleged the scheming of four friends of the minister to emerge as preferred bidders by any means necessary.

The House observed that the minister's comments were in conflict with the ongoing legislative action, which seeks to provide a legal framework for the same issue, so as to provide clear direction for regulatory authorities on such actions.

The committees of privatisation, petroleum resources downstream and that of due process are to look into the 'suspicious, illegal and unreasonable' government move for the selling of the Kaduna, Port Harcourt and Warri state-owned refineries. - National Mirror.