Nigeria`s lower chamber of the National Assembly, the House of Representatives has summoned the Minister of State for Petroleum, Timipre Sylva, the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele and some other heads of government agencies to appear before it.

This is with respect to the ongoing investigation of the House on the issues related to the fuel subsidy controversy in the country.

Others invited by the House also includes the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd, Mele Kyari, the Managing Director of the Pipelines Products Marketing Company (PPMC), Mallam Isiyaku Abdullahi as well as the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Petroleum Resources.

Clariform gathers that these summoning might not be unconnected to the recent public hearing on the fuel subsidy issue, where some of those invited failed to appear before the House Committee.

Background

Following the recent disruptions in the supply of the Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), popularly called petrol in Nigeria, which has caused serious scarcity and increase in the pump price of the product where available, the House embarked on the investigation of fuel subsidy.

The House is seeking to find out if the amount of money reportedly spent by government in the fuel subsidy policy actually corresponds with the rate of fuel consumption in the country.

Following the absence of these government officials in a public hearing organized by the Committee of the House of Representative, the Deputy Majority Leader of the House lamented that their absence could be seen as an attempt to frustrate the investigation by the House.

The Deputy Majority Leader, Peter Akpatason, represented the Speaker of the House, Hon Femi Gbajabiamila, at the Committee hearing.

Takeaway

The Minister of State for Petroleum, Timipre Sylva, actually deputises President Muhammadu Buhari who is the closest to a substantive Minister of Petroleum in Nigeria, a tradition that was started during the regime of former President Olusegun Obasanjo.

The concept was however dropped during the regime of former President Goodluck Jonathan, who appointed a substantive Minister of Petroleum for Nigeria.

Clariform reminds our readers that the Nigerian government has categorically confirmed that the removal of fuel subsidy is not an option at the moment in Nigeria, for reasons it defended in an interview to Reuters by Lai Mohammed.