The House of Representatives on Tuesday asked President Bola Tinubu to suspend the Chief Executive of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), Farouk Ahmed, for his “unguarded comments” on the quality of products produced at the Dangote Refinery.
The lawmakers called for Ahmed’s suspension pending the conclusion of investigations into the allegations against the Authority.
This followed a motion on the urgent need to address the outrage resulting from “unguarded comments” by the NMDPRA boss.
Esosa lyawe, who moved the motion, noted that Ahmed claimed that the diesel produced by the Dangote refinery had a high content of Sulphur and was inferior to the ones imported into the country.
The House, whose leadership was at the Dangote Refinery in Lagos on Saturday, noted that the billionaire business tycoon called for a test of products produced at his $20bn facility.
The House noted that the test was witnessed by members of the House of Representatives and it was revealed that Dangote’s diesel had a Sulphur content of 87.6 ppm (parts per million), whereas two samples of imported diesel had Sulphur levels exceeding 1,800 ppm and 2,000 ppm, thus disproving the allegations made by the NMDPRA boss.
Lawmakers were concerned that the NMDPRA allegedly issued licences to some traders who regularly import high-Sulphur diesel into Nigeria, and the use of such products posed grave health risks and huge financial losses to Nigerians.
The House mandated its Petroleum Downstream Committee to investigate the matter.
The comment by Ahmed has sparked an outrage from Nigerians who tagged his undermining of local refineries and insistence on the continued importation of fuel as an act of economic sabotage.
