President Urged on INSIDE SOURCES to Clean-up Oil & Gas Sector Amid NMDPRA/Dangote Refinery Spat

Former presidential spokesperson, Laolu Akande, has urged the President to do what he did to the Central Bank of Nigeria also to the Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) and the entire oil and gas sector in the wake of a disagreement between the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) and Dangote Refinery. […]

Former presidential spokesperson, Laolu Akande, has urged the President to do what he did to the Central Bank of Nigeria also to the Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) and the entire oil and gas sector in the wake of a disagreement between the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) and Dangote Refinery.

Akande said, “Two weeks ago, here on Inside Sources, we advised the President to do to the NNPC what he did to the CBN earlier when he commissioned a serious investigation that exposed the rot in the CBN. We restate that call today.”

“Let the President muster the courage to institute a comprehensive audit of the entire oil and gas sector, and forthrightly cleanUp all the mess in there. Do to NNPC what you did to CBN. Nothing less will do,” Akande charged.

Recall that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu instituted a probe into the activities of the CBN exposing the rot in the financial institution.

Commenting on the controversy between NMDPRA and Dangote, Akande lamented what he says is a worrying display of corruption and ineptitude in Nigeria’s petroleum sector.

Speaking on Inside Sources with Laolu Akande’s My Take segment, Akande expressed his disappointment with new information concerning the new refinery.

“Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Agency (NMDPRA) alarmed all of us by attempting to demarket the Dangote Refinery,” Akande declared.

He questioned the timing and motivation behind recent claims that the refinery is only 45 per cent complete and that it is dispensing substandard diesel. Akande emphasized the absurdity of a government agency undermining one of the largest industrial efforts in Nigeria in decades.

The veteran journalist said “Why are we being told now that the refinery is only 45% completed, that the refinery is dispensing substandard diesel, and complaining that the refinery can’t be a monopoly?

“This absurdity assaults all of us a people. It’s an abhorrent situation where a government agency runs down the largest industrial effort in Nigeria in the last several decades,” he noted.

On July 28, 2023, President Tinubu appointed Mr Jim Obazee, former CEO of the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria (FRC), as the Special Investigator of the apex bank and other related entities to investigate the CBN following Godwin Emefiele’s suspension as the apex bank’s chief.

He raised concerns about the credibility of the regulator’s assertions. He asserted, “at what point did the NMDPRA know that the Dangote Refinery is only 45% complete? More importantly, what is the disclosure meant to achieve? Which laboratory did the regulator conduct its investigation with the results that the Dangote Refinery diesel is low standard? If the agency were so sure of that, where is the punitive measure that was imposed for such a behaviour?”
On the issue of potential monopoly concerns regarding the Dangote Refinery, Akande questioned the regulator’s role and effectiveness saying, “Why is a government agency throwing up such issues without enforcing corrective procedures otherwise what’s the use?
“The failure of effective regulation of the oil and gas sector is a symptom of the ridicule being perpetrated such as the revelation that some people in the sector are operating a blending plant in Malta to the utter disadvantage of our strategic energy security here at home.” He criticized the regulator for failing to address the allegations effectively and suggested that the oil and gas sector is plagued by deep-seated issues, including claims of irregularities such as the alleged operation of a blending plant in Malta.”