The house of representatives has asked the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited to suspend the companies involved in the importation of substandard petrol into the country.

The decision was taken following the adoption of a motion sponsored by Mohammed Monguno during plenary.

Deputy minority leader, Toby Okechukwu who commented on the motion, said the NNPC limited has not done due diligence in its duty as a regulatory agency.  He said the parliament had conducted several investigations on the infraction committed by the NNPC limited.

Okechukwu said; 

“What we have seen is that this parliament has been hired by NNPC to work for it. So many investigations have been carried out by the parliament.

“The due diligence to import appropriate petroleum products has become a war.”

Okechukwu also pointed out that the NNPC and its agencies have failed in its purpose as they’ve not been contributing to the federation account, adding that Nigerians that have fallen victims to the adulterated products should be compensated.

Contributing to the motion, Onofiok Luke, a lawmaker from Akwa Ibom state, said NNPC Limited should be held responsible for the importation of adulterated fuel. The lawmaker further stated that parliament should take action on the matter to ensure and restore the confidence of Nigerians.

After the motion was unianimously adopted after being put to a voice vote by Deputy Speaker of the house, Idris Wase, members of house mandated its “committee on petroleum downstream to ascertain whether the Nigerian specification concerning importation, distribution and dispensing of the alleged toxic petrol in Nigeria from January till date complies with international standards”.

The NNPC was asked to forward the names of the companies involved in the importation of the adulterated fuel to its committee for investigation.

The committee was also directed to “investigate the roles played by the NNPC limited, Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON), Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Nigerian navy, any other government regulatory agencies, limited liabilities companies and individuals in the unfortunate episode”.