The House of Representatives has mandated its committees on petroleum resources (downstream and upstream) to investigate alleged fraudulent pipelines surveillance contracts on OML 26/30 to TEZINO Nig. Ltd and other companies.
The committee is to report back to the house within one month.
The resolution came from a motion moved by Rep. Leo Ogor (PDP-Delta) on Tuesday in Abuja which was unanimously adopted without debate.
According to Ogor, the oil pipeline surveillance contract in the case of OML 26/30, in the Niger Delta area has become a conduit pipe.
“Millions of naira of tax payers’ money is being siphoned for work not done through this contract,’’ he said.
Ogor alleged that the beneficiary companies might have acted in connivance with some officials of the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC) to perpetrate the heinous act.
He said that the host communities of the pipelines were disenchanted with officials of NPDC over the shady contract and had to involve the local vigilante to watch over them.
The legislator noted that it was the desire of government to award the contracts to protect the nation’s oil pipelines in the Niger Delta region and other parts.
He said that the initiative was intended to ensure that while oil pipelines were protected, government would get value for the huge amount being spent on surveillance contracts.
Ogor said that in spite of the money spent by government on pipelines surveillance, no single worker of the company was seen at the locations of the pipelines.
In a related development, the house also urged the National Council on Privatisation (NCP) and Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) to stop the liquidation of Nitel and Mtel.
It also summoned the director-general of the bureau to appear before the committees on privatisation and commercialisation and legislative compliance.
The resolution was sequel to a motion moved by Rep. Ibrahim Gusau (PDP-Sokoto) which was also adopted without debate.
“In spite of the communication of the resolution of the house to the NCP and BPE, they went ahead with the process of liquidation of the companies,’’ Gusau said.
The house recently considered and adopted 13 recommendations on the liquidation of the companies and urged the agencies to discontinue the process of liquidation.
Meanwhile, the house has adopted the conference report on same sex marriage prohibition bill which was passed on July 2, and transmitted to the Senate for concurrence.
The senate passed the bill with some differences.