The House of Representatives on Wednesday summoned the Group Chief Executive Officer, Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), Mele Kyari to appear before it on May 8, 2024 over environmental degradation caused by the activities of oil companies in oil producing communities in the country.
The Chairman of the House Committee on Environment, Pondi Julius Gbabojor, gave the order at a Joint Committee investigative hearing on the need to investigate the service and unprecedented environmental damage within the communities.
The joint Committees are on the Environment, Petroleum Resources (Upstream), Petroleum Resources (Downstream) and Climate Change.
This is even as Gbabojor also mandated the chief executives of some oil companies and relevant government agencies to appear before the Joint Committees.
The oil companies summoned include Chevron Nigeria Limited, Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited, Total Energies, Oando Oil Limited, Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited and Seplat Energy, among others.
Other government agencies summoned by the Committee are the Nigeria Midstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, National Oil Spill Detection Response Agency, as well as the National Environmental Standards Regulations and Enforcement Agency.
However, the National Environmental Standards Regulations and Enforcement Agency sent an excuse through a representative, but the rest did not give any reason for their absence.
The Chairman affirmed that the matter to be addressed was critical and threatened appropriate sanctions if those invited failed to appear.
“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 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.
“When the probe commenced on Wednesday, only four out of 35 oil companies and agencies invited for the probe showed up” he said.
Earlier, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas, in his opening speech recognised the immense responsibility of the Committee as public servants to protect, safeguard the environment and meet the challenges posed by the ravages of environmental damages, the need to balance economic prosperity and social responsibility to ultimately achieve equitable development.
Represented by the Deputy Minority Whip, George Ozodinobi, the Speaker said “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 marginalised 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” he noted.
Meanwhile, in their submission, the Committee members complained that even the four that turned up submitted the relevant documents just the previous day, not giving the lawmakers enough time to study them 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.
