Fuel Queue: Why DG DSS Should Investigate Mele Kyari, Other Oil Sector Players, Rights Group Speaks

• A centre has called on the newly appointed DSS Director-General, Adeola Ajayi, to investigate Mele Kyari, group managing director of NNPC, and other top oil sector officials
• The rights group accused Kyari, along with Gbenga Olu Komolafe (NUPRC CEO) and Farouk Ahmed (NMDPRA CEO), of unaccounted crude oil sales
• The group urged the DSS to launch an in-depth investigation into these officials' activities

FCT, Abuja - A rights organisation, the Centre for Human Rights in Africa, has urged Adeola Ajayi, the newly appointed director-general of the Department of State Services (DSS), to investigate the activities of Mele Kyari, group managing director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC), along with other senior officials in the oil sector.

In a letter signed by Princess Caroline Obi, the group alleged that Kyari, along with Gbenga Olu Komolafe, CEO of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), and Farouk Ahmed, CEO of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), have engaged in activities detrimental to the growth and development of Nigeria's oil industry.

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Group decries gross corruption in Nigeria's oil sector

The group accused these officials of failing to account for crude oil production and sales, undermining the operation of Nigerian refineries, and prioritising the export of crude oil to foreign refineries linked to them, Daily Trust reported.

Additionally, the group claimed that these officials have accumulated wealth far beyond what their official salaries would justify.

The letter said:

“The Director General would be alarmed about the rot in the oil and gas sector in Nigeria under the watch of the above-listed individuals.

“They have constituted themselves as clogs in the wheels of progress in the country. They have continued to milk the country dry by frustrating the functionality of the refineries in the country.

“It is also on record that they have been neck deep in frustrating the desire for local refining of petroleum products in the country, preferring the export our crude oil to refineries linked to them outside the shores of the country, thereby shortchanging the government and accruing forex debts on the already stretched economy of the country."

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Group calls for in-depth investigation

As reported by The Authority, the group, calling on the DG DSS to launch a probe into the activities of players in Nigeria's oil sector, said:

“We are therefore using this medium to call for an investigation of the above-mentioned individuals in a bid to unravel their nefarious activities and also put an end to it for the betterment of the country at large."

Tinubu asked to resign as Petroleum Minister

Earlier, Legit.ng reported that Ijaw youths, under the umbrella of the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) worldwide, called on President Bola Tinubu to step down as the minister of petroleum resources and appoint a substantive minister forthwith.

President Tinubu, minister of petroleum resources, had appointed Heineken Lokpobiri as the minister of state for petroleum resources (oil) and Ekperikpe Ekpo as the minister of state for petroleum resources (gas) in August 2023.

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Wading into the crisis, IYC, through its spokesperson, Bedford Berefa, urged President Tinubu to resign as the Petroleum minister so that the sector would begin to serve the Nigerian people better.

Proofread by Kola Muhammed, journalist and copyeditor at Legit

Source: Legit.ng