The Speaker of House Representatives Rt. Hon Yakubu Dogara yesterday mandated the Committee on Petroleum Resources (Upstream) to investigate the $260 million contract awarded by National Petroleum Investment Management Services (NAPIMS).
This call which became necessary was as a result of the motion moved on the floor of the House by Hon. Babatunde Gabriel Kolawole representing Akoko South West /East Constituency of Ondo State (APC).
In his motion Hon. Kolawole informed the House that the National Petroleum Investment Management Services (NAPIMS), a subsidiary of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), granted approval for Epson Exploration and Production Nigeria Limited, a ExxonMobil’s Usan Deep Water Project for the sum of $260m without a tendering process.
” NAPIMS Had through three memoranda dated October 13, 2014, February 10, 2015 and April 16,2015, nominated four companies to execute the Contract, in violation of due process and without Approval from the Board of NNPC and its Group Executive Committee (GEC).
Haven listened to the contributions from the Members of the House as they made their contribution to the motion, Hon. Dogara later put the motion into vote and majority of the lawmakers voted in support of the motion.
Dogara later included Committee on Public Procurement to Committee on Petroleum Resources (Upstream) and mandated them to investigate the allegation as well as report back to the House within four weeks for further legislative inputs.
Meanwhile, in another development, the House also frowned at the manner in which the the Federal Road Safety Commission and the Vehicle Inspection Office, which were the two agencies involved in the issuance of driver’s licence, do not seem to follow the laid down rules as well as due process in the issue of driver’s licence.
Irked by this unpalatable conduct of these two agencies, Hon. Philips Shaibu who is representing Estako East /West Central of Edo State (APC) and the mover of this motion, informed his colleagues that going by the rules, it was only licenced Driving Schools that were expected to train the intending drivers.
who thereafter should pass a driving test conducted by an Agency of Government, in addition a properly conducted eye test, before issuance of driver’s licence, he added.
“Due process before issuance of driver’s licence is routinely breached so much so that a driver’s licence can be obtained by proxy”.
Hon. Shaibu connotes that there was a direct correlation between the high rate accidents in the country yearly and capability of drivers plying the highways.
With the House unanimously supporting this motion, Rt. Hon. Dogara who presided over the plenary session later mandated the Committee on Federal Road Safety Commission to investigate the lack of integrity in the issuance and the measures being put in place to reverse the trend and report back to the House within four weeks for further legislative inputs.
