The House of Representatives yesterday rejected a report of its ad hoc committee on the alleged shady deals in the allocation of oil mining leases by former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke. The House had, last year, set up the interim committee to investigate the alleged shady deals involving the former minister, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC), Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC), Atlantic Energy Drilling Concept Ltd; Septa Energy Ltd on the allocation of Oil Mining Leases (OML) 4, 26, 30, 34, 38, 41 and 42.
The committee, which was led by Chairman of the House Committee on Petroleum (Upstream), Hon. Ajibola Muraina (PDP, Oyo), had laid the report on the floor since February 13, 2014. But at yesterday’s plenary presided over by Speaker, Hon. Emeka Ihedioha, the House kicked against the report, which was presented by Chairman, Business and Rules Committee, Hon. Albert Sam-Tsokwa (PDP). The rejection of the report stemmed from recommendation three which said “that a clean bill of health be given to all the parties involved in the transaction as the entire transaction conformed to all the applicable laws.”
When the report was tabled for debate, majority of the lawmakers were displeased with the recommendations and kicked against its adoption. Initially, Ihedioha had put the question as to whether the House should consider the report, and there were resounding nay voice votes. But apparently surprised and trying to persuade his colleagues, he repeated the question once again and got the same response. The committee had recommended that: “(i) That operators in the industry should deliberately encourage openness/ transparency in their operations.
“(ii) That companies involved in the petroleum industry should be required to ensure timely dissemination of information regarding their transactions, especially those involving government agencies and corporations, as this would forestall suspicions and sentiments of having been cheated that are always bound to arise in circumstances where a section of the relevant stakeholders in the industry are left in doubt as to transactions in the industry.”
The lawmakers argued that the recommendations were at variance with the report itself, which, in a way, admitted that due process was not observed in the transactions under investigation. Also yesterday, the House again disagreed on some clauses in the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), forcing the speaker to suspend debate on the bill till today.
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