Reps joint committee summons NNPCL, oil companies, agencies over environmental degradations in host communities.
Comfort Chukwukelue.
A Joint Committee of the House of Representatives has ordered the Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), Mr Mele Kyari, to appear on May 8, 2024 over an investigation on environmental degradation caused by the activities of oil companies in oil producing communities in the country.
The summon was handed down by the Chairman of the House Committee on Environment, Hon Pondi Julius Gbabojor, at an investigative hearing on the need to investigate the service and unprecedented environmental damage within the communities on Wednesday.
The House Committees include Environment, Petroleum Resources (Upstream), Petroleum Resources (Downstream) and Climate Change.
When the probe commenced on Wednesday, only four out of 35 oil companies and agencies invited for the probe showed up.
Gbabojor threatened to sanction those who failed to turn up, as the matter to be addressed was critical.
Besides the NNPCL, oil companies summoned include Chevron Nigeria Limited, Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited, Total Energies, Oando Oil Limited, Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited Seplat Energy among others.
Also government agencies summoned include Nigeria Midstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, National Oil Spill Detection Response Agency, National Environmental Standards Regulations and Enforcement Agency.
The Committee members however complained over the late submission of relevant documents by the four companies that turned up. Says it didn’t give them enough time to study for the probe.
They rued the attitude of the oil companies and agencies saying it impeded efforts aimed at moving the country to a better place.
Gbabojor said, “We will do another letter to everybody. They should turn up to answer questions on issues pertaining to degradation of the environment due to the activities of oil companies.
“They have to be here on the 8th of May. If anybody fails to show up on, then we would not decide as a committee on what to do. I want to believe that there was enough time, two letters were sent, there was ample time for them to see the letters and duly honour. But for putting on a human face, we would still give another time to do so,” he said.
The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas,Represented by the Deputy Minority Whip, George Ozodinobi, said, “I fully recognize the immense responsibility which befalls us as public servants to protect and safeguard our environment and meet the challenges posed by the ravages of environmental damages, and the need to balance economic prosperity and social responsibility to ultimately achieve equitable development.
“Also as representatives of the people, we must ensure that the voices of those most affected by environmental damage are heard and respected. We have to listen to the fears that are faced by frontline communities, indigenous people, and marginalized groups who usually bear the brunt of environmental injustice.
“It is therefore, for this reason that the House mandated the Committees on Environment, Petroleum Resources (Upstream), Petroleum Resources (Downstream), and Climate Change, to investigate the environmental damage in oil producing communities caused by non-compliance to extant laws by oil producing companies.”
